just fifteen years ago--but will the recital tire you, Mr. Lorry?
I came to spend a few moments socially and not to go into
history. At any other time I shall be--"

"It will please and not tire me. I am deeply interested. Pray
go on," Lorry hastened to say, for he was interested more than
the Count suspected.

"Fifteen years ago Prince Ganlook, of this principality,--the
father of our princess,--became incensed over the depredations of
the Axphain soldiers who patrolled our border on the north. He
demanded restitution for the devastation they had created, but
was refused. Graustark is a province comprising some eight
hundred square miles of the best land in this part of the world.
Our neighbor is smaller in area and population. Our army was
better equipped but not so hardy. For several months the
fighting in the north was in our favor, but the result was that
our forces were finally driven back to Edelweiss, hacked and
battered by the fierce thousands that came over the border. The
nation was staggered by the shock, for such an outcome had not
been considered possible. We had been too confident. Our
soldiers were sick and worn by six months of hard fighting, and
the men of Edelweiss--the merchants, the laborers and the
nobility itself--flew to arms in defense of the city. For over a
month we fought, hundreds of our best and bravest citizens going
down to death. They at last began a bombardment of the city.
To-day you can see they marks on nearly every house in Edelweiss.
Hundreds of graves in the valley to the south attest the terrors
of that siege. The castle was stormed, and Prince Ganlook, with
many of the chief men of the land, met death. The prince was