Now go at once!"
John touched his cap, sprang into the seat and started the great
automobile up the mountain road. He could not look back, but he knew
instinctively that the prince had gone into the castle as silently as he
had come from it. And he was alone at the wheel with Julie and Suzanne
inside. In very truth chance or fortune had moved the pawns for him in a
way that the most skillful player could not have equaled. For a moment,
the whole world seemed to swim beneath his feet.
The night was dark and cold, and although the road up the slope showed
for a long distance in the moonshine the top of the mountain was wrapped
in mist. A wind began to blow and he felt raw and damp to his face. But
there was nothing to check his exultation. Come wind or rain or snow
they were all one to him. He was away from Zillenstein, out in the great
free world and Julie was with him. Auersperg himself, unknowing, had
provided the way and he was sending them not only in comfort but in
luxury. John knew the big automobile. It was the prince's own and it was
surely equipped in a princely way. The man who bad brought it to the
gate had been forced to go away and he, John Scott, and Prince Karl of
Auersperg alone knew where they were going. All the better! He laughed
under his breath as he handled the wheel with hands now skilled and sent
the great automobile along the smooth white road that stretched away and
away up the mountain side.
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