"
"Then we are all brethren of the sword," answered Tarlenheim, holding
out his hand, which I took readily.
"Rassendyll, Rassendyll!" muttered Colonel Sapt; then a gleam of
intelligence flitted across his face.
"By Heaven!" he cried, "you're of the Burlesdons?"
"My brother is now Lord Burlesdon," said I.
"Thy head betrayeth thee," he chuckled, pointing to my uncovered poll.
"Why, Fritz, you know the story?"
The young man glanced apologetically at me. He felt a delicacy which
my sister-in-law would have admired. To put him at his ease, I remarked
with a smile:
"Ah! the story is known here as well as among us, it seems."
"Known!" cried Sapt. "If you stay here, the deuce a man in all Ruritania
will doubt of it--or a woman either."
I began to feel uncomfortable. Had I realized what a very plainly
written pedigree I carried about with me, I should have thought long
before I visited Ruritania. However, I was in for it now.
At this moment a ringing voice sounded from the wood behind us:
"Fritz, Fritz! where are you, man?"
Tarlenheim started, and said hastily:
"It's the King!"
Old Sapt chuckled again.
Then a young man jumped out from behind the trunk of a tree and stood
beside us. As I looked at him, I uttered an astonished cry; and he,
seeing me, drew back in sudden wonder.
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