"Burroughs, Edgar Rice - The Mad King" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burroughs Edgar Rice)

"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."