"Your Highness has asked a good many questions," she said. "May I put one to you? Did you inquire concerning Miss Hassard's dot, also?" "Ah, certainly! Why not? It is very large. I have spoken of it to my cousin Count Odo. But the drawback--her father still lives. He may marry again. Her dot depends upon his good pleasure. Whereas Miss Dunbar is an orphan; and besides that, she is so dear to me!" clasping his hands, his face red with fervor. "So truly dear!" And she knew that he honestly meant it. CHAPTER IX When Miss Vance came into the corridor after she had reported this interview to Lucy, Jean swept her into her room and dragged the whole story from her. In fact the poor anxious lady was glad to submit it to the girl's shrewd hard sense. "You told him that she was the uncontrolled mistress of her money!" "It is the truth. I had to tell him the truth, my dear." "Yes, I suppose so, for he would have found it out anyhow." "I do feel," panted Clara, "as if I had put a dove into the claws of a vulture." "Not at all," said Jean promptly. "The little man has a heart, but an empty pocket. Was Lucy interested most in his love or his bargaining?" "In neither, I think. She just went on painting, and said nothing." "Oh, she will decide the matter in time! She will bring her little intellect to bear on it as if it were a picnic for her Sunday-school class!" Jean stood silent a while. "Miss Vance," she said suddenly, "let me engineer this affair for a few days. I can help you." "What do you propose to do, Jean?" "To leave Bozen to-morrow. For Munich." "But the Wolfburghs have a palace or--something in Munich. Is it quite delicate for us----" "It is quite rational. Let us see what the something is. So far in our dealings with principalities and powers, we have had a stout little man--with no background." The prince was startled when he was told of this sudden journey, but declared that he would follow them to-morrow. Lucy, as usual, asked no questions, but calmly packed her satchel. As the little train, the next day, lumbered through the valley of the Eisach, she sat in her corner, reading a newspaper. Miss Vance dozed, or woke with a start to lecture on points of historic interest. "Why don't you look, Lucy? That monastery was a Roman fortress in the third century. And you are missing the color effects of the vineyards." "I can look now. I have finished my paper." Lucy folded it neatly and replaced it in her bag. "I have read the Delaware State Sun," she said triumphantly, "regularly, every week since we left home. When I go back I shall be only seven days behind with the Wilmington news."