"You asked that question before. Where I came from only negroes and poor whites fear the departed spirits. Perhaps this spirit is not as departed as circumstances would indicate. But, how about the Duke? What is his interest in the ghost?" "He fears it, too. He has begged me to stay away from the wretched castle altogether. If it were not for my brother's future, and the fortune of the family--his family, and perhaps ... my family ... some day ... I would shun the place. We are not completely destitute, you know!" Jarvis studied the luxurious furnishings of the cabin, the jewels and aristocratic modishness of the girl's attire, and nodded. "I imagine you're not! But this high, exalted, and altogether superior cousin of yours is far from being a fool. He will want to know how, where, why you met me. And what he doesn't know, contrary to the usual theory, is apt to interfere with his sleep. Beware, your Highness, of men who cannot sleep o'night--they think altogether too shrewdly!" The girl was worried. "He will ask dreadful questions. I know him, Mr. Jarvis!" "So do I. Will you tell him you have made of me a ... perfectly good vassal?" "I think not--just yet," and there was a shyness in her manner. Jarvis looked adown his nose, and there was a smile on the firm lips below it! "By the way, Mrs. Princess--as Rusty so beautifully phrases it--just how should a vassal, a fine A-number-One vassal, address his liege-lady and the owner of his soul? What is the _au fait_ procedure in this case? You know I am only an ignorant pig of an American!" She hesitated, embarrassed, and then answered: "Highness--is correct!" "Highness! I had imagined so--incidentally we were introduced by Fate on the eleventh floor, as I recollect. Tell me, Highness: a vassal doesn't amount to much, does he? I always considered him a piker!" She was mystified. These phrases had not been in the curriculum of the exclusively proper English boarding-school. "A piker--a soldier who carries a pike?" "No, just a pawn in this human game of chess--along with the queens, and kings, and castles--and knights!... But I have known of a pawn saving a game, in the hands of an expert. By the way, and apropos of nothing-whatever-at-all, could a good, hard-working, reliable, moral, union-labeled vassal work his way up to a good job--such as a Duke or a Lord, or something like that?" She caught the drift of his quizzical humor, and retorted in kind. "You're an ambitious vassal. Such men have occasionally lost their heads--literally speaking. I'm afraid you wouldn't be content with anything less than a kingship." The Kentuckian spoke with meaning behind his jest. "A king--a prince--or a bandit!" "A bandit--why a bandit? That is essentially Spanish!" Jarvis lit another cigarette. "A king could command--a prince might request--a bandit generally seizes!" "What?" and the woman emerged from the hauteur of the royal personality. "That which a vassal can only admire!" VIII