"I know not what he said. Is there anything that His Highness would not say, if it pleased him? But so far from the car being injured, I was kept up most of the night by his command, putting it in the best order, looking to every nut, seeing that the grease-cups were filled, and everything as fine as though to try for first prize in a show. This morning did I get a moment's sleep? On the contrary, I must drive the automobile at eight o'clock, before any one was up, down to the harbour, and with much trouble put it on the yacht of the Conte Corramini, which had come into this port, the saints alone know why." "I should say the saints had little to do with the affair," remarked Ralph, but I cut him short. "What then?" I asked. "Then it must be covered up, His Highness said, in case of rain--though the sky was as dry as my throat--till you could not tell the automobile from a haystack, on the forward deck where it had been placed." "And after that?" "After that I know nothing, except that His Highness condescended to remark that he would go away for a trip to-day, and I was to wait for him until I heard further. That will be soon, for when it comes to real work on the car it breaks his heart. He can drive, but apart from that he knows no more of the automobile than does the little black dog adopted by the beautiful mademoiselle." "I suppose you'll get a wire to-morrow at latest," said I. "Well, _au revoir_. We're turning here." "Going to the harbour?" Ralph asked, dryly, and I nodded. I am afraid that we did the mile to Gravosa in a good deal less than the legal limit, but luckily no one was the worse for it, and there were no policemen about. At Gravosa we found some men on the quay who could talk Italian, and in five minutes I knew for certain what I had suspected. A white yacht answering the description I gave of "Arethusa," had sent a boat before noon to meet a cab bringing to the port two ladies and a gentleman. The Signore were in long brownish coats and close hats. One was stout, with much colour; the other, a young girl, transcendently beautiful. "That impudent fellow has whisked them off to Cattaro, to see his beastly ancestral ruin," suggested Ralph. "That's what he's done. He's probably chuckling now with savage glee to think that willy-nilly Countess Kidder-Dalmar can't get out of her bargain." "I don't believe they would willingly have left the little girl lying there ill, to say nothing of leaving us in the lurch without a word," said I. "Ralph, there's something pretty devilish under this, or I'll eat my hat." "Well, I should expect to see you devouring it, if--I hadn't heard Beechy's confess--if she hadn't told me some things," Ralph amended his sentence. "I'm hanged if I won't give chase!" I exclaimed.