"You understand now? Cunard line. You can find it some way--just take a
taxi, and get there as fast as you can. The clerk at the hotel will get
the tickets over the telephone, and you can pay him when you settle for
the whole bill, with that other money I gave you. Now, get hold of this
money, and keep hold of it. No gin now, Rusty!"
He turned around, and observed the amused surprise on the face of his
fair companion.
"I beg your pardon.... This is Rusty;--Rusty, this is the Princess of
Aragon...."
Rusty bowed.
"Howdy do, Mrs. Princess!"
"There, that will do. Is it all clear for you now?"
"Yassir. I takes everything to the steamboat--gets
accommo--accommo--wall, I knows what you means, Marse Warren, if I
cain't spell it. I gets them things for us and Mrs. Princess."
The girl reddened under the beaming smile, but Jarvis quickly
interceded.
"Not for the Princess; just for us two. What's the name of the boat?"
"The _Mary Tania_!"
"That'll do. Now be off, and don't get left behind."
As Rusty made his exit with the bulky bundle, the Princess smiled:
"Good-by, Rusty," and he bobbed his head with a broader grin than ever
as he disappeared down the corridor toward the elevator.
"Time nearly up," muttered Warren, as he took off his coat. "Pardon the
disrobing--but I'll be more at ease in my shirt-sleeves. It's a stingy
little room to spend three hours in. I'll lie this way, with my head
toward this corner. Remember, this trunk must not go into the hold of
the ship--have it marked 'Wanted' and 'This End Up.' I'll take the
shears along and cut another hole from the inside if it gets too
suffocating."
The girl walked to the table and picked up the revolver, which she held
out.
"You'd better take this, too."
"How do you know you can trust me now?"
There was a veiled irony in her retort, although it was accompanied by
a smile: "I don't. I have to take that chance. I have no other choice
at this late hour."
"You must have a pretty good reason for it in the back of your head.
But what about this ghost? I may never hear the sequel. At least give
me some food for thought during my travels in the dark."
"Are you afraid?"
"Lord, no! I merely wanted to know. Well, I'll wait. But, now, honest
Injun, as we say down in Kentucky, are you a really, sure-enough
princess?"
"Why do you ask that?"
"Oh, I don't know. Somehow you are not quite like what I thought a
princess would be.... I mean, you're different from the popular
conception of a royal person. Your English is so perfect."
"I learned it in an English boarding-school."
"Your informality--for it has been put to a severe test these last few
hours,--your adaptability,--you have more understanding, more sympathy,
more heart."
She turned away and tilted a haughty chin.
"In that last respect, sir, you will find me quite like the popular
conception."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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