1
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
by
HAROLD MACGRATH
Author of The Puppet Crown, The Grey Cloak, The Man on the Box
With Illustration by Harrison Fisher
[Frontispiece: Princess Hildegarde (Gretchen) playing the piano.]
New York Grosset & Dunlap Publishers Copyright 1905 The Bobbs-Merrill Company
TO MY WIFE
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
I
It is rather difficult in these days for a man who takes such scant interest in foreign affairs--trust a whilom diplomat for that!--to follow the continual geographical disturbances of European surfaces. Thus, I can not distinctly recall the exact location of the Grand Duchy of Barscheit or of the neighboring principality of Doppelkinn. It meets my needs and purposes, however, to say that Berlin and Vienna were easily accessible, and that a three hours' journey would bring you under the shadow of the Carpathian Range, where, in my diplomatic days, I used often to hunt the "bear that walks like a man."
Barscheit was known among her sister states as "the meddler," the "maker of trouble," and the duke as "Old Grumpy"--Brummbär. To use a familiar Yankee expression, Barscheit had a finger in every pie. Whenever there was a political broth making, whether in Italy, Germany or Austria, Barscheit would snatch up a ladle and start in. She took care of her own affairs so easily that she had plenty of time to concern herself with the affairs of her neighbors. This is not to advance the opinion that Barscheit was wholly modern; far from it. The fault of Barscheit may be traced back to a certain historical pillar of salt, easily recalled by all those who attended Sunday-school. "Rubbering" is a vul