"If the people should guess that it was not Leopold who won the
battle of Lustadt there might be the devil to pay, and your father
would go down along with the throne. No, I must stay until Leopold
is safe in Lustadt. But there is a hope for us. I may be able to
wrest from Leopold his sanction of our marriage. I shall not
hesitate to use threats to get it, and I rather imagine that he will
be in such a terror-stricken condition that he will assent to any
terms for his release from Blentz. If he gives me such a paper,
Emma, will you marry me?"
Perhaps there never had been a stranger proposal than this; but to
neither did it seem strange. For two years each had known the love
of the other. The girl's betrothal to the king had prevented an
avowal of their love while Barney posed in his own identity. Now
they merely accepted the conditions that had existed for two years
as though a matter of fact which had been often discussed between
them.
"Of course I'll marry you," said the princess. "Why in the world
would I want you to take me to America otherwise?"
As Barney Custer took her in his arms he was happier than he had
ever before been in all his life, and so, too, was the Princess Emma
von der Tann.
XII
LEOPOLD WAITS FOR DAWN
After the American had shoved him through the secret doorway into
the tower room of the castle of Blentz, Leopold had stood for
several minutes waiting for the next command from his captor.
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