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

his head fall back into the girl's lap. He found it very com-
fortable there indeed.

The officer smiled and shook his head. Then he tapped
his forehead meaningly.

"I did not know," he said to the girl, "that he was so bad.
But come--it is some distance to Blentz, and the afternoon
is already well spent. Your highness will accompany us."

"I?" cried the girl. "You certainly cannot be serious."

"And why not, your highness?" asked the officer. "We
had strict orders to arrest not only the king, but any com-
panions who may have been involved in his escape."

"I had nothing whatever to do with his escape," said the
girl, "though I should have been only too glad to have
aided him had the opportunity presented."

"King Peter may think differently," replied the man.

"The Regent, you mean?" the girl corrected him haughtily.

The officer shrugged his shoulders.

"Regent or King, he is ruler of Lutha nevertheless, and he
would take away my commission were I to tell him that I
had found a Von der Tann in company with the king and
had permitted her to escape. Your blood convicts your high-
ness."

"You are going to take me to Blentz and confine me
there?" asked the girl in a very small voice and with wide
incredulous eyes. "You would not dare thus to humiliate a
Von der Tann?"

"I am very sorry," said the officer, "but I am a soldier,
and soldiers must obey their superiors. My orders are strict.
You may be thankful," he added, "that it was not Maenck
who discovered you."

At the mention of the name the girl shuddered.

"In so far as it is in my power your highness and his
majesty will be accorded every consideration of dignity and
courtesy while under my escort. You need not entertain
any fear of me," he concluded.

Barney Custer, during this, to him, remarkable dialogue,