THE UNKNOWN MR. KENT
announced. "That fool Peter helped. He is feeding them now. The poor beasts! Scandalous, I call it, to ride animals so hard on such a night!"
Kent smiled at her tolerantly.
"That being done," he said, "you will now prepare the best chamber for our lady guests. Make it comfortable in every way you can. After that, do the best you can with other rooms."
The lady's maid, as if to assure herself of the princess' comfort, arose, saying, "I will help you. Please lead the way," and, when the peasant woman disappeared, followed her. Kent, after a glance at his guests, who, as if too dejected to be interested in anything save their own plight, still stared at the fire, again resumed his pretence of reading. Now and then his bushy eyebrows tightened and his mouth took on a grim, firm look, as if he were slowly threshing his way toward a resolution; but his guests, evidently feeling safe behind the barrier of their language, again took up their conversation.
"What I fail to understand, despite your somewhat lame explanations, Von Glutz," remarked the king with asperity, "is how Provarsk could have hatched his plot and taken possession of the palace before you suspected it."
"A chancellor can not see everything," doggedly grumbled Von Glutz. "And you will re-
[31]
