And not another word would he say in the matter.




II

CONCERNING ANCESTORS

However, I did not need to wait so long for my answer. I knew it quite
as well as Courtney--maybe a trifle better. Nevertheless, it is a bit
jolting to realize, suddenly, that some one has been prying into your
family history.

On the west wall of the Corridor of Kings, in the Palace of Dornlitz,
hung the full-length portrait of Henry, third of the name and tenth of
the Line. A hundred and more years had passed since he went to his
uncertain reward; and now, in me, his great-great-grandson, were his
face and figure come back to earth.

I had said, truly enough, that I had never been in the Gallery of
Kings. But it was not necessary for me to go there to learn of this
resemblance to my famous ancestor. For, handed down from eldest son to
eldest son, since the first Dalberg came to American shores, and, so,
in my possession now, was an ivory miniature of the very portrait which
Courtney had in mind.

And the way of it, and how I chanced to be of the blood royal of
Valeria, was thus: