The Princess Virginia

“It’s true there are plenty of cows about,” replied her host, “and I could easily catch one. But if I fetch the beast here, can you milk it?”

“Dear me, no; surely you, a great strong man, would never stand by and let a weak girl do that? Oh, I almost wish I hadn’t thought of the milk, if I’m not to have it. I long for it so much.”

“You shall have the milk, lady,” returned the chamois hunter. “I – ”

“How good you are!” exclaimed the Princess. “It will be more than nice of you. But – I don’t want you to think that I’m giving you all this trouble for nothing. Here’s something just to show that I appreciate it; and – to remember me by.”

She would not look up, though she longed to see what expression the dark face wore, but kept her eyes upon her hand, from which she slowly withdrew a ring. It fitted tightly, for she had had it made years ago, before her slender fingers had finished growing. When at last she had pulled off the jeweled circlet of gold, she held it up, temptingly.

“What I have done, and anything I may yet do, is a pleasure,” said the hunter. “But after all you have learned little of Rhaetia, if you think that we mountain men ever take payment from those to whom we’ve been able to show hospitality.”

“Ah, but I’m not talking of payment,” pleaded the Princess. “I wish only to be sure that you mayn’t forget the first woman who, you tell me, has ever entered this door.”

The young man looked at the door, not at the girl. “It is impossible that I should forget,” said he, almost stiffly.

“Still, it will hurt me if you refuse my ring,” went on Virginia. “Please at least come and see what it’s like.”

He obeyed, and as she still held up the ring, he took it from her that he might examine it more closely.

“The crest of Rhaetia!” he exclaimed, as his eyes fell upon a shield of black and green enamel, set with small, but exceedingly brilliant white diamonds. “How curious. I’ve been wondering that you should speak our language so well – ”

“It’s not curious at all, really, but very simple,” said Virginia. “Now” – with a faint tremor in her voice – “press the spring on the left side of the shield, and when you’ve seen what’s underneath, I think you’ll feel that you can’t loyally refuse to accept my little offering.”

The bronze forefinger found a pin’s point protuberance of gold, and pressing sharply, the shield flew up to reveal a tiny but exquisitely painted miniature of Leopold the First of Rhaetia.

The chamois hunter stared at it, and did not speak, but the blood came up to his brown forehead.

“You’re surprised?” asked Virginia.

“I am surprised because I’d been led to suppose that you thought poorly of our Emperor.”

“Poorly! Now what could have given you that impression?”

“Why, you – made fun of his opinion of women.”

“Who am I, pray, to ‘make fun’ of an Emperor’s opinion, even in a matter he would consider so unimportant? On the contrary, I confess that I, like most other girls I know, am deeply interested in your great Leopold, if only because I – we – would be charitably minded and teach him better. As for the ring, they sell things more or less of this sort, in several of the Rhaetian cities I’ve passed through on my way here. Didn’t you know that?”

“No, lady, I have never seen one like it.”

“And as for my knowledge of Rhaetian, I’ve always been interested in the study of languages. Languages are fascinating to conquer; and then, the literature of your country is so splendid, one must be able to read it at first hand. Now, you’ll have to say ‘yes’ to the ring, won’t you, and keep it for your Emperor’s sake, if not for mine?”

“May I not keep it for yours as well?”

“Yes, if you please. And – about the milk?”

The chamois hunter caught up a gaudy jug, and without further words, went out. When he had gone, the Princess rose and, taking the knife he had used to cut the bread and ham, she kissed the handle on the place where his fingers had grasped it. “You’re a very silly girl, Virginia, my dear,” she said. “But oh, how you do love him. How he is worth loving, and – what a glorious hour you’re having!”

For ten minutes she sat alone, perhaps more; then the door was flung open and her host flung himself in, no longer with the gay air which had sat like a cloak upon him, but hot and sulky, the jug in his hand as empty as when he had gone out.

“I have failed,” he said gloomily. “I have failed, though I promised you the milk.”

“Couldn’t you find a cow?” asked Virginia.

“Oh yes, I found one, more than one, and caught them too. I even forced them to stand still, and grasped them by their udders, but not a drop of milk would come down. Abominable brutes! I would gladly have killed them, but that would have given you no milk.”

For her life, the Princess could not help laughing, his air was so desperate. If only those cows could have known who he was, and appreciated the honor!

“Pray, pray don’t mind,” she begged. “You have done more than most men could have done. After all, I’ll have a glass of Rhaetian beer with you, to drink your health and that of your Emperor. I wonder by the by if he, who prides himself on doing all things well, can milk a cow?”

“If not, he should learn,” said the chamois hunter, viciously. “There’s no knowing, it seems, when one may need the strangest accomplishments, and be humiliated for lack of them.”

“No, not humiliated,” Virginia assured him. “It’s always instructive to find out one’s limitations. And you have been most good to me. See, while you were gone, I ate the slice of bread and ham you cut, and never did a meal taste better. Now, you must have many things to do, which I’ve made you leave undone. I’ve trespassed on you too long.”

“Indeed, lady, it seems scarcely a moment since you came, and I have no work to do,” the chamois hunter insisted.

“But I’ve a friend waiting for me, on the mountain,” the Princess confessed. “Luckily, she had her lunch and will have eaten it, and her guide-book must have kept her happy for a while; but by this time I’m afraid she’s anxious, and would be coming in search of me, if she dared to stir. I must go. Will you tell me by what name I shall remember my – rescuer, when I recall this day?”

“They named me – for the Emperor.”

“They were wise. It suits you. Then I shall think of you as Leopold. Leopold – what? But no, don’t tell me the other name. It can’t be good enough to match the first; for do you know, I admire the name of Leopold more than any other I’ve ever heard? So, Leopold, will you shake hands for good-by?”

The strong hand came out eagerly, and pressed hers. “Thank you, gna’ Fräulein; but it’s not good-by yet. You must let me help you back by the way you came, and down the mountain.”

“Will you really? I dared not ask as much, for fear, in spite of your kind hospitality, you were – like your noble namesake – a hater of women.”

“That’s too hard a word, even for an Emperor, lady. While as for me, if I ever said to myself, ‘no woman can be of much good to a man as a real companion,’ I’m ready to unsay it.”

“I’m glad! Then you shall come with me, and help me; and you shall help my friend, who is so good and so strong-minded that perhaps she may make you think even better of our sex. If you will, you shall be our guide down to Alleheiligen, where we’ve been staying at the inn since last night. Besides all that, if you wish to be very good, you may carry our cloaks and rücksacks, which seem so heavy to us, but will be nothing for your strong shoulders.”

The face of the chamois hunter changed and changed again with such amused appreciation of her demands, that Virginia turned her head away, lest she should laugh, and thus let him guess that she held the key to the inner situation.

His willingness to become a cowherd, and now a beast of burden for the foreign lady he had seen, and her friend whom he had not seen, was indubitably genuine. He was pleased with the adventure – if not as pleased as his initiated companion. For the next few hours the hunter was free, it seemed. He said that he had been out since early dawn, and had had good luck. Later, he had returned to the hut for a meal and a rest, while his friends went down to the village on business which concerned them all. As they had not come back, they were probably amusing themselves, and when he had given the ladies all the assistance in his power, he would join them.

The way down was easy to Virginia, with his hand to help her when it was needed, and she had never been so happy in her twenty years. But, after all, she asked herself, as they neared the place where she had left Miss Portman, what had she accomplished? What impression was she leaving? Would this radiant morning of adventure do her good or harm with Leopold when Miss Mowbray should meet him later, in some conventional way, through letters of introduction to Court dignitaries at Kronburg?

While she wondered, his voice broke into her questionings.

“I hope, gna’ Fräulein,” the chamois hunter was saying, almost shyly and as if by an effort, “that you won’t go away from our country thinking that we Rhaetians are so cold of heart and blood as you’ve seemed to fancy. We men of the mountains may be different from others you have seen, but we’re not more cold. The torrent of our blood may sleep for a season under ice, but when the spring comes – as it must – and the ice melts, then the torrent gushes forth the more hotly because it has not spent its strength before.”

“I shall remember your words,” said the Princess, “for – my journal of Rhaetia. And now, here’s my poor friend. I shall have to make her a thousand excuses.”

For her journal of Rhaetia! For a moment the man looked wistful, as if it were a pain to him that he would have no other place in her thoughts, nor time to win it, since there sat a lady in a tourist’s hat, and eye-glasses, and the episode was practically closed. He looked too, as if there was something he would add to his last words if he could; but Miss Portman saw the two advancing figures, and shrieked a shrill cry of thanksgiving.

“Oh, I have been so dreadfully anxious!” she groaned, “What has kept you? Have you had an accident? Thank heaven you’re here. I began to give up hope of ever seeing you again alive.”

“Perhaps you never would, if it hadn’t been for the help of this good and brave new friend of mine,” said Virginia, hurrying into explanations. “I got into dreadful difficulties up there; it was much worse than I thought, but Leopold – ” (Miss Portman started, stared with her near-sighted eyes at the tall, brown man with bare knees; colored, gasped, and swallowed hard after a quick glance at her Princess.) “Leopold happened to be near, came to my help and saved me. Wasn’t it providential? Oh, I assure you, Leopold is a monarch – of chamois hunters. Give him your cloak and rücksack to carry with mine, dear Miss Manchester. He’s kind enough to say that he’ll guide us all the way down to Alleheiligen, and I’m glad to accept his service.”

Miss Portman – a devout Royalist, and firm believer in the right of kings – grew crimson, her nose especially, as it invariably did at moments of strong emotion.