wered me that it depended on R. She was making arrangements for him
to cross the frontier. He wanted to see the very ground on which the
Principle of Legitimacy was actually asserting itself arms in hand. It
sounded to my positive mind the most fantastic thing in the world, this
elimination of personalities from what seemed but the merest political,
dynastic adventure. So it wasn't Dona Rita, it wasn't Blunt, it wasn't
the Pretender with his big infectious laugh, it wasn't all that lot of
politicians, archbishops, and generals, of monks, guerrilleros, and
smugglers by sea and land, of dubious agents and shady speculators and
undoubted swindlers, who were pushing their fortunes at the risk of their
precious skins. No. It was the Legitimist Principle asserting itself!
Well, I would accept the view but with one reservation. All the others
might have been merged into the idea, but I, the latest recruit, I would
not be merged in the Legitimist Principle. Mine was an act of
independent assertion. Never before had I felt so intensely aware of my
personality. But I said nothing of that to Mills. I only told him I
thought we had better not be seen very often together in the streets. He
agreed. Hearty handshake. Looked affectionately after his broad back.
It never occurred to him to turn his head. What was I in comparison with
the Principle of Legitimacy?

Late that night I went in search of Dominic. That Mediterranean sailor
was just the man I wanted. He had a great experience of all unlawful
things that can be done on the seas and he brought to the practice of
them much wisdom and audacity. That I didn't know where he lived was
nothing since I knew where he loved. The proprietor of a small, quiet
cafe on the quay, a certain Madame Leonore, a woman of thirty-five with
an open Roman face and intelligent black eyes, had captivated his heart
years ago. In that cafe with our heads close together over a marble
table, Dominic and I held an earnest and endless confabulation while
Madame Leonore, rustling a black silk skirt, with gold earrings, with her
raven hair elaborately dressed and something nonchalant in her movements,
would take occasion, in passing to and fro, to rest her hand for a moment
on Dominic's shoulder. Later when the little cafe had emptied itself of
its habitual customers, mostly people connected with the work of ships
and cargoes, she came quietly to sit at our table and looking at me very
hard w