o'clock, there will arrive in a special train--"

Monsieur Pelletan had turned pale.

"Een a special train?" he faltered. "What! Some one else?"

"Yes--at ten o'clock--"

"Who iss eet will arrive, monsieur?" questioned Pelletan faintly.

"His Highness, Prince Frederick of Markeld, ambassador from the court of
Schloshold-Markheim," answered Rushford, dwelling upon every word. "We
will give him apartment B."




CHAPTER IV


An Adventure and a Rescue

It was not until Rushford opened his paper an hour later that he fully
understood the remarkable situation of which the Grand Hôtel Royal had,
by the merest chance, become the centre.

"It is extremely unfortunate [said
the _Times_] that Lord Vernon should
have been taken ill at just this time,
when the question of the succession of