to
anyone.

The young Prince had come up out of the valley of the shadow of death,
but some of the valley's shadow had clung to him, and it seemed he was
unable to dissipate it.

'By the way,' said Eugen suddenly, 'I must reward these Racksoles, I
suppose. I am indeed grateful to them. If I gave the girl a bracelet,
and the father a thousand guineas--how would that meet the case?'

'My dear Eugen!' exclaimed Aribert aghast. 'A thousand guineas! Do
you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end
without making himself a pauper. A thousand guineas! You might as well
offer him sixpence.'

'Then what must I offer?'

'Nothing, except your thanks. Anything else would be an insult. These
are no ordinary hotel people.'

'Can't I give the little girl a bracelet?' Prince Eugen gave a sinister
laugh.

Aribert looked at him steadily. 'No,' he said.

'Why did you kiss her--that night?' asked Prince Eugen carelessly.

'Kiss whom?' said Aribert, blushing and angry, despite his most
determined efforts to keep calm and unconcerned.

'The Racksole girl.'

'When do you mean?'

'I mean,' said Prince Eugen, 'that night in Ostend when I was ill. You
thought I was in a delirium. Perhaps I was. But somehow I remember
that with extraordinary distinctness. I remember raising my head for
a fraction of an instant, and just in that fraction of an instant you
kissed her. Oh, Uncle Aribert!'

'Listen, Eugen, for God's sake. I love Nella Racksole. I shall marry
her.'

'You!' There was a long pause, and then Eugen laughed. 'Ah!' he said.
'They all talk like that to start with. I have talked like that myself,
dear uncle; it sounds nice, and it means nothing.'

'In this case it means everything, Eugen,' said Aribert quietly. Some
accent of determination in the latter's tone made Eugen rather more
serious.

'You can't marry her,' he said. 'The Emperor won't permit a morganatic
marriage.'

'The Emperor has nothing to do with the affair. I shall renounce my
rights.

I shall become a plain citizen.'

'In which case you will have no fortune to speak of.'

'But my wife will have a fortune. Knowing the sacrifices which I shall
have made in order to marry her, she will not hesitate to place that
fortune in my hands for our mutual use,' said Aribert stiffly.

'You will decidedly be rich,' mused Eugen, as his ideas dwelt on
Theodore Racksole's reputed wealth. 'But have you thought of this,' he
asked, and his m