have to get 'em together some day, eh, up at Blitherwood. How long is the Prince to be with you, Mrs. King?"     

       "It's rather uncertain, Mr. Blithers," said she, and no more.     

       Mr. Blithers fanned himself in patience for a moment or two. Then he looked at his watch.     

       "Getting along toward dinner-time up our way," he ventured. Everybody seemed rather intent on the game, which was extremely one-sided.     

       "Good work!" shouted King as Fannie Felton managed to return an easy service.     

       Lieutenant Dank applauded vigorously. "Splendid!" he cried out. "Capitally placed!"     

       "They speak remarkably good English, don't they?" said Mr. Blithers in an audible aside to Mrs. King. "Beats the deuce how quickly they pick it up."     

       She smiled. "Officers in the Graustark army are required to speak English, French and German, Mr. Blithers."     

       "It's a good idea," said he. "Maud speaks French and Italian like a native. She was educated in Paris and Rome, you know. Fact is, she's lived abroad a great deal."     

       "Is she at home now, Mr. Blithers?"     

       "Depends on what you'd call home, Mrs. King. We've got so many I don't know just which is the real one. If you mean Blitherwood, yes, she's there. Course, there's our town house in Madison Avenue, the place at Newport, one at Nice and one at Pasadena—California, you know—and a little shack in London. By the way, my wife says you live quite near our place in New York."     

       "We live in Madison Avenue, but it's a rather long street, Mr. Blithers. Just where is your house?" she inquired, rather spitefully.     

       He looked astonished. "You surely must know where the Blithers house is at—"     

       "Game!" shrieked Fannie Felton, tossing her racket in the air, a victor.     

       "They're through," said Mr. Blithers in a tone of relief. He shifted his legs and put his hands on his knees, suggesting a readiness to arise on an instant's notice.     

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