"Then I must add that I am commissioned, if necessary, to convey your Royal Highness to Glottenberg." "To convey me?" I bowed. "You dare to threaten me?" "I follow my instructions. Will you come, madame, or----" "Well?" "Will you be taken?" I was not surprised at her vexation. Dumergue had, in his haste, called her "a little devil." She looked it then. "You mean," she asked slowly, "that you will use force?" I bowed. "Then I yield," she said, after a pause. I called the maid, and told her to order the carriage in five minutes. The silence was unbroken till it came round. The princess went into her room, and returned in cloak and hat, carrying a large muff. She was smiling. "Ah, Mr. Jason, what can a woman do, against men? I am ready. We will go alone. The servants can follow." I handed her into the coach, ordering the coachman to drive fast. He was the only man with us, and we were alone inside. I began, perhaps stupidly, to apologize for my peremptory conduct. The princess smiled amiably. "I like a man of resolution," she said, edging, I thought, a trifle nearer me, her hands nestling in her muff. Apparently she was going to try the effect of amiability. I was prepared for this. She would not tempt me in that way. "Your Royal Highness is most forgiving." "Oh, that is my way," she answered, with the kindest possible glance, and she came nearer still. "You are a most generous foe." She turned to me with a dazzling smile. "Don't say _foe_," she said, with a pretty lingering on the last word. And as she said it, I felt a knife driven hard into my ribs, and the muff dropped to the ground. "God in heaven!" I cried. The princess flung herself into the corner of the carriage. "Ha--ha--ha! Ha--ha--ha!" she laughed, merrily, musically, fiendishly. I tried to clutch her; I believe I should have killed her, I was half mad. But the blood was oozing fast from the wound--only the knife itself held my life in. Things danced before my eyes, and my hands fell on my lap. The carriage stopped, the door opened, and the coachman appeared. It was all like a dream to me. "Take his feet," said the princess. The man obeyed, and between them they lifted, or, rather, hauled and pushed, me out of the carriage, and laid me by the roadside. I was almost in a faint, and the last thing I was conscious of was a pretty, mocking mouth, which said: "Won't you escort me, Mr. Jason?"--and then added to the coachman, "To Glottenberg--quick!" I did not die. I was picked up by some good folk, and well tended. Dumergue arrived and looked after me, and in a couple of weeks I was on my legs. "Now for Glottenberg!" said I. Dumergue shook his head. "You won't be admitted to the town." "Not admitted!" "No. They have made it up--for the time. There must be no scandal. Come, Jason; surely you see that?" "She tried to murder me." "Oh, quite, quite!" said he. "But you can't prosecute her." "And I am to be turned adrift by the prince?"