"It is beautiful here in the summer," defensively.

"I wish you had waited till then, or brought a mackintosh. Your
Princess would have kept." He shoved his head deeper into his collar,
and began to laugh. "This is the discomfort man will go through for
love. If she is a true woman she will feed you first and explain
afterward. But, supposing she is not here?"

"Where else can she be?" I asked.

"The world is very large--when a woman runs away from you."

This set me thinking. If she shouldn't be there! I set my teeth and
gave the horse a cut, sending him into a gallop, which I forced him to
maintain till the end. At length we turned into the roadway. A man I
had never seen before came out.

"Where is the innkeeper?" I asked, my heart sinking.

"He is not here," was the answer, "Is Her Highness the Princess Hildegarde--"

"Her Highness?" he cried, in astonishment. "She has never been here.
This is an inn; the castle is in the village."

"How long have you been here?" asked Pembroke.

"Two weeks, Your Highness." Doubtless he thought us to be high
personages to be inquiring for the Princess.

"Is Stahlberg here?" I asked.

"He is visiting relatives in Coberg," was the answer.