When the Princess was born, her father refused to believe her to be his child.

Now, it came to pass, as they say in the Bible, which I assure you is a very interesting book, that there were vague rumors immediately after the birth of Princess Hildegarde that another child had been born." "What!" I was half out of my chair.

"Another child ?" "Another child.

The fact that the Prince swore that when children came he would make them counterparts of their kind and loving father, lent color to the rumor that the Princess had had one spirited away to escape this threatened contamination.

And one of the nurses was missing.