The Washington times., 1911-10-18
CHAPTER Nv.
A POSTPONED Disaster,

CUNT sEBAsTE's queries left
me for the moment cropping
~ wildly for a reply.
How was l to know how mat
ters stood in Vienna, or what commands
| was supposed to Issue?
For an instant my nerve wavered.
How could / take single step along
this alluring pathway that seemed to
lead to romance without laundering So
awkward!y as to get myself cast forth
again into the drearier. II broader high
ways, OF everyday commonplace?
Best, perhaps. make a clean breact
OF the matter.
But my resolution came to my aid.
Was 1.-The avowed hunter OF romance
going to turn my back on that tickle
deity when for the first time in all my
humdrum life / was apparently about
to enter her domain?
A hundred times, No!
And with the resolution came re-
source.
The count. fancying probably that
had not caught the drift of his ques-
tions, opened his lips to repeat them.
as fine as assumption OF superiority as
I could summon up. and, remarking
with a really delightful aloofness:
rs this the time or place to speak Of
Again r. bowed. confusedly: red with
wrath at my rebuke. yet schooling his
tongue to mutter an apology of some
sort.
Just then, like an angel Of rescue de-
scending from the skies, the lift appear
ed. With a curt nod to the still-apolo-
getic Sebaste, l stepped inside and the
metal gate changed between me and
him.
I sighed with real relief. II was
going to pit my wits against this smooth
Italians I wanted a little time wherein
to lay out some plan Of campaign be-
fore plunsing headlons into the mys-
Accordingly, as dressed for dinner
tried to gain some line on the matter.
That Count Sebaste mistook me for
could not possibly imagine. I looked
exactly as | had looked all the week.
Yet. up to this afternoon. he had never
deigned to notice my existence.
that afternoon bowed to me. One Of
them was duke. If blind. incompre-
hensible mystery were the basis of ro-
nance, then surely was at last on ro-
mance's track.
But what was to be the next step?
How was I to keep up the illusion
whatever that illusion might be? How
was l to avoid inadvertently betraying
the fact. at my first word. that I had
no place In that same battling mystery?
And. for that matter, what, was the
mystery? Why should a conservative
II VIGOROUSLY impecunious duke bow re-
spectfullv to an American factory own
Why had the woman in the automobile
and the wooden-faced German bowed?
Why. especially. had Count Sebate.
who had seen me at meals every day
for week, suddenly thawed into
deferential, obsequious seeker of my
acquaintance?
The more I conjectured. the more
hopelessly confused became. But with
growing confusion also grew a keen
Joy in the situation.
This was what my workaday soul had
longed for. Romance!
And I had not tried to palm myself
off as anyone else than myself. II this
supercilious Neapolitan chose to mis-
take me for another. II was HIS lookout,
not mine. Moreover, when explana-
tions should at length become necessary
It would be highly gratifying to let him
see that for all his superior airs he had
played the fool for mere American
tourist" as he had sneeringly called
me.
It made my Yankee blood boil to re-
call that sneer. And at once my reso-
luton to humiliate this miserable Italian
sprig of nobility became adamant.
But how?
He had asked how affairs were going
In Vienna. Clearly, then, was supposed
to have recently arrived from Vienna.
mands."
There were two points Of information
that might prove of benefit to me, oar
ticularly the latter, For. as l was owl
IDENTIFY in some way or other, Sebasta y
superior In this mysterious business, I
could. perhaps, II necessary. become
naughty and refuse to reply to any Ell
barrassing query.
One joint, however. in my recent arlef
little.
He said I had been expected in Narfcs
sooner. From that II was evident :hat
the man whom / was involuntariv I'M
II toh
rive at any moment. Having arrived,
he might not take kindly to my Sttl-
tude.
However, I must risk that. And I
must waste no time In entering on the