t ask for it!"

This, then, was the information she had taken such a roundabout way to
communicate! It was to this end she had purposely led the conversation
by adroit stages, studying him gaily, impatiently or maliciously, as
she marked the effect of her words upon him. All alive, she stepped
back laughing; elate, she put her arms about a branch of the rose-bush
and drew a score of roses to her bosom, as though she were a witch,
impervious to thorns. He had risen--yes, there was no doubt about
it!--but her sunny face was turned to the flowers. His countenance
became at once puzzled and thoughtful.

"The duke--coming--" He condescended to ask for information now.

Sidewise she gazed at him, unrelenting. "Does the flower become me?"
she asked.

"The duke--coming--" he repeated.

"How impolite! To refuse me a compliment!" she flashed.

The next moment he was by her side, and had taken her arm, almost
roughly. "Speak out!" he cried. "Some one is coming! What duke is
coming?"

"You hurt me!" she exclaimed, angrily. He loosened his grasp.

"What duke?" she answered scornfully. "Her duke! Your duke! The
emperor's duke!"

"The Duke of Friedwald?" he asked.

"Of course! The princess' fiance; bridegroom-to-be; future husband,
lord and master," she explained, with indubious and positive iteration.

"But the time--set for the wedding---has not expired," he protested
with what she thought seemed a suspicion that she was playing with him.

"That is easily answered," she said cheerfully. "The duke, it seems,
has become more and more enamored. Finally his passion has so grown
and grown he fears to let it grow any more, and, as the only way out of
the difficulty, petitioned the king to curtail the time of probation
and relieve him of the constantly augmenting suspense. To which his
most gracious Majesty, having been a lover himself (on divers
occasions) and measuring the poor fellow's troubles by the qualms he
has himself experienced, has seen generously fit to cut off a few weeks
of waiting and set the wedding for the near future."

"How know you this?" he demanded, sharply, striding to and fro.

"This morning the princess sent me with a message to the Countess
d'Etampes. You know her? You have heard? She has succeeded the
Countess of Chateaubriant. Well, the king was with her--not the
Countess of Chateaubriant, but the other one, I mean. They left poor
me to await his Majesty's pleasure, and, a