Produced by Jonathan Ferro, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK BY GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON CONTENTS I East of the Setting Sun II Beverly Calhoun III On the Road from Balak IV The Ragged Retinue V The Inn of the Hawk and Raven VI The Home of the Lion VII Some Facts and Fancies VIII Through the Ganlook Gates IX The Redoubtable Dangloss X Inside the Castle Walls XI The Royal Coach of Graustark XII In Service XIII The Three Princes XIV A Visit and Its Consequences XV The Testing of Baldos XVI On the Way to St. Valentine's XVII A Note Translated XVIII Confessions and Concessions XIX The Night Fires XX Gossip of Some Consequence XXI The Rose XXII A Proposal XXIII A Shot in the Darkness XXIV Beneath the Ground XXV The Valor of the South XXVI The Degradation of Marlanx XXVII The Prince of Dawsbergen XXVIII A Boy Disappears XXIX The Capture of Gabriel XXX In the Grotto XXXI Clear Skies BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK CHAPTER I EAST OF THE SETTING SUN Far off in the mountain lands, somewhere to the east of the setting sun, lies the principality of Graustark, serene relic of rare old feudal days. The traveler reaches the little domain after an arduous, sometimes perilous journey from the great European capitals, whether they be north or south or west--never east. He crosses great rivers and wide plains; he winds through fertile valleys and over barren plateaus; he twists and turns and climbs among sombre gorges and rugged mountains; he touches the cold clouds in one day and the placid warmth of the valley in the next. One does not go to Graustark for a pleasure jaunt. It is too far from the rest of the world and the ways are often dangerous because of the strife among the tribes of the intervening mountains. If one hungers for excitement and peril he finds it in the journey from the north or the south into the land of the Graustarkians. From Vienna and other places almost directly west the way is not so full of thrills, for the railroad skirts the darkest of the dangerlands. Once in the heart of Graustark, however, the traveler is charmed into dreams of peace and happiness and--paradise. The peasants and the poets sing in one voice and accord, their psalm being of never-ending love. Down in the lowlands and up in the hills, the simple worker of the soil rejoices that he lives in Graustark; in the towns and villages the humble merchant and his thrifty customer unite to sing the song of peace and contentment; in the palaces of the noble the same patriotism warms its heart with thoughts of Graustark, the ancient. Prince and pauper strike hands for the love of the land, while outside the great, heartless world goes rumbling on without a thought of the rare little principality among the eastern mountains.