You should see him ride and
fence and shoot--and he is but seven!"
"I say, Mr. Spantz, I don't believe I've told you that your niece is a
most remarkably beau--"
"As I was saying, sir," interrupted Spantz, so pointedly that Truxton
flushed, "the little Prince is the idol of all the people. Under the
present regency he is obliged to reside in the principality until his
fifteenth year, after which he may be permitted to travel abroad.
Graustark intends to preserve him to herself if it is in her power to do
so. Woe betide the man who thinks or does ill toward little Prince
Robin."
King was suddenly conscious of a strange intentness of gaze on the old
man's part. A peculiar, indescribable chill swept over him; he had a
distinct, vivid impression that some subtle power was exercising itself
upon him--a power that, for the briefest instant, held him in a grip of
iron. What it was, he could not have told; it passed almost immediately.
Something in the old man's eyes, perhaps--or was it something in the
queer smile that flickered about his lips?
"My dear Mr. Spantz," he hastened to say, as if a defence were
necessary, "please don't get it into your head that I'm thinking ill of
the Prince. I daresay he's a fine little chap and I'm sorry
he's--er--lost his parents.
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