"You would protest?"
"Most strenuously--and so would Washington."
She looked at me with a triumphant sneer.
"You hear, Your Highness!" she exclaimed.
"Yes," said I, "I hear."
"I presume I am now at liberty to depart."
"From the room?--undoubtedly," I answered.
"Thank you--I mean from Dornlitz."
"Whenever you will," said I; "on the terms I gave you."
She turned, again, to Courtney.
"I appeal to Your Excellency for protection."
"Upon what basis, madame?" he asked formally.
She looked surprised.
"As an American subject," she said.
"And under what name?" Courtney asked.
"My rightful one, of course," she laughed: "Madeline Dalberg."
"Wife of the Grand Duke Armand?" he went on.
"Surely, monsieur--who else?"
"That, madame, if you will pardon, is the material point. As wife of a
Valerian Prince you are a subject of His Majesty, Frederick the Third,
and the American Government has no jurisdiction to interfere."
"But, His Majesty has just said I was not comprehended in the Decree
restoring my husband," she objected.
"Of course, I can speak only according to the doctrine of the United
States," said Courtney. "It asks only if you are the wife of a
foreigner.
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