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BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK

BY GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON




CONTENTS


  I       East of the Setting Sun
  II      Beverly Calhoun
  III     On the Road from Balak
  IV      The Ragged Retinue
  V       The Inn of the Hawk and Raven
  VI      The Home of the Lion
  VII     Some Facts and Fancies
  VIII    Through the Ganlook Gates
  IX      The Redoubtable Dangloss
  X       Inside the Castle Walls
  XI      The Royal Coach of Graustark
  XII     In Service
  XIII    The Three Princes
  XIV     A Visit and Its Consequences
  XV      The Testing of Baldos
  XVI     On the Way to St. Valentine's
  XVII    A Note Translated
  XVIII   Confessions and Concessions
  XIX     The Night Fires
  XX      Gossip of Some Consequence
  XXI     The Rose
  XXII    A Proposal
  XXIII   A Shot in the Darkness
  XXIV    Beneath the Ground
  XXV     The Valor of the South
  XXVI    The Degradation of Marlanx
  XXVII   The Prince of Dawsbergen
  XXVIII  A Boy Disappears
  XXIX    The Capture of Gabriel
  XXX     In the Grotto
  XXXI    Clear Skies






BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK




CHAPTER I

EAST OF THE SETTING SUN


Far off in the mountain lands, somewhere to the east of the setting sun,
lies the principality of Graustark, serene relic of rare old feudal
days. The traveler reaches the little domain after an arduous, sometimes
perilous journey from the great European capitals, whether they be north
or south or west--never east. He crosses great rivers and wide plains;
he winds through fertile valleys and over barren plateaus; he twists and
turns and climbs among sombre gorges and rugged mountains; he touches
the cold clouds in one day and the placid warmth of the valley in the
next. One does not go to Graustark for a pleasure jaunt. It is too far
from the rest of the world and the ways are often dangerous because of
the strife among the tribes of the intervening mountains. If one hungers
for excitement and peril he finds it in the journey from the north or
the south into the land of the Graustarkians. From Vienna and other
places almost directly west the way is not so full of thrills, for the
railroad skirts the darkest of the dangerlands.

Once in the heart of Graustark, however, the traveler is charmed into
dreams of peace and happiness and--paradise. The peasants and the poets
sing in one voice and accord, their psalm being of never-ending
love. Down in the lowlands and up in the hills, the simple worker of the
soil rejoices that he lives in Graustark; in the towns and villages the
humble merchant and his thrifty customer unite to sing the song of peace
and contentment; in the palaces of the noble the same patriotism warms
its heart with thoughts of Graustark, the ancient. Prince and pauper
strike hands for the love of the land, while outside the great,
heartless world goes rumbling on without a thought of the rare little
principality among the eastern mountains.

In point of area, Graustark is but a mite in the great galaxy of
nations. Glancing over the map of the world, one is almost sure to miss
the infinitesimal patch of green that marks its location. One could not
be blamed if he regarded the spot as a typographical or topographical
illusion. Yet the people of this quaint little land hold in their hearts
a love and a confidence that is not surpassed by any of the lordly
monarchs who measure their patriotism by miles and millions. The
Graustarkians are a sturdy, courageous race. From the faraway century
when they fought themselves clear of the Tartar yoke, to this very hour,
they have been warriors of might and valor. The boundaries of their tiny
domain were kept inviolate for hundreds of years, and but one victorious
foe had come down to lay siege to Edelweiss, the capital. Axphain, a
powerful principality in the north, had conquered Graustark in the
latter part of the nineteenth century, but