The Mad King | Page 9

she was forced to admit that she was
far from uncomfortable in the strong arms that bore her so easily.
"Why, what are you doing?" she cried presently. "You are not crossing the stream at all.
You are walking right up the middle of it!"
She saw his face flush, and then he turned laughing eyes upon her.
"I am looking for a safe landing," he said.
Emma von der Tann did not know whether to be frightened or amused. As her eyes met

the clear, gray ones of the man she could not believe that insanity lurked behind that
laugh- ing, level gaze of her carrier. She found herself continually forgetting that the man
was mad. He had turned toward the bank now, and a couple of steps carried them to the
low sward that fringed the little brooklet. Here he lowered her to the ground.
"Your majesty is very strong," she said. "I should not have expected it after the years of
confinement you have suffered."
"Yes," he said, realizing that he must humor her--it was difficult to remember that this
lovely girl was insane. "Let me see, now just what was I in prison for? I do not seem to
be able to recall it. In Nebraska, they used to hang men for horse stealing; so I am sure it
must have been something else not quite so bad. Do you happen to know?"
"When the king, your father, died you were thirteen years old," the girl explained, hoping
to reawaken the sleeping mind, "and then your uncle, Prince Peter of Blentz, an- nounced
that the shock of your father's death had unbal- anced your mind. He shut you up in
Blentz then, where you have been for ten years, and he has ruled as regent. Now, my
father says, he has recently discovered a plot to take your life so that Peter may become
king. But I suppose you learned of that, and because of it you escaped!"
"This Peter person is all-powerful in Lutha?" he asked.
"He controls the army," the girl replied.
"And you really believe that I am the mad king Leopold?"
"You are the king," she said in a convincing manner.
"You are a very brave young lady," he said earnestly. "If all the mad king's subjects were
as loyal as you, and as brave, he would not have languished for ten years behind the walls
of Blentz."
"I am a Von der Tann," she said proudly, as though that was explanation sufficient to
account for any bravery or loyalty.
"Even a Von der Tann might, without dishonor, hesitate to accompany a mad man
through the woods," he replied, "especially if she happened to be a very--a very--" He
halted, flushing.
"A very what, your majesty?" asked the girl.
"A very young woman," he ended lamely.
Emma von der Tann knew that he had not intended say- ing that at all. Being a woman,
she knew precisely what he had meant to say, and she discovered that she would very
much have liked to hear him say it.
"Suppose," said Barney, "that Peter's soldiers run across us--what then?"

"They will take you back to Blentz, your majesty."
"And you?"
"I do not think that they will dare lay hands on me, though it is possible that Peter might
do so. He hates my father even more now than he did when the old king lived."
"I wish," said Mr. Custer, "that I had gone down after my guns. Why didn't you tell me,
in the first place, that I was a king, and that I might get you in trouble if you were found
with me? Why, they may even take me for an emperor or a mikado--who knows? And
then look at all the trouble we'd be in."
Which was Barney's way of humoring a maniac.
"And they might even shave off your beautiful beard."
Which was the girl's way.
"Do you think that you would like me better in the green wastebasket hat with the red
roses?" asked Barney.
A very sad look came into the girl's eyes. It was pitiful to think that this big, handsome
young man, for whose return to the throne all Lutha had prayed for ten long years, was
only a silly half-wit. What might he not have accomplished for his people had this terrible
misfortune not overtaken him! In every other way he seemed fitted to be the savior of his
country. If she could but make him remember!
"Your majesty," she said, "do you not recall the time that your father came upon a state
visit to my father's castle? You were a little boy then. He brought you with him. I was a
little girl, and we played together. You would not let me