this unusual woman--finding beneath the surface of courtly reserve
a depth of feeling, a breadth of humanity which would hardly have been
believable from her calm, almost indifferent manner.

Her education in an English school had internationalized her--her wide
knowledge of books, in all the literatures of Europe, her familiarity
with the best of art, poetry, the drama and music--had made of her a
delightful, ever surprising traveling companion.

The girl was interested in everything American. She plied him with
questions about the city, the country, the customs. Her brief stay in
New York had been all too limited--her curiosity was only whetted by
the brief survey of externals which is all that a stranger may get,
without the guidance of an initiate.

To her, America represented a great new universe, teeming with
vitality. Compared with the mediaevalism of her own country, the
modernity of the States was a wonderful poetic drama of ideals,
accomplishment, and goals worth while.

"What do you think of titles, Mr. Jarvis?" asked the girl, one evening.
"When you made your recessional into the Middle Ages by taking the
feudal oath to me, you were flippant, almost sarcastic: yet by my
standards, I could not feel that any man could defend my interests with
propriety unless he were of my own people--so, you were adopted with
more seriousness than you supposed."

Jarvis flicked a cigarette into the swirling waters far beneath them,
as he answered.

"Titles do not appeal to Americans, as a general thing. To the simpler
folk, they represent the yoke of the ancient Lion whose mane was
cropped in 1776. To the broader folk, they are no more than the marks
of family: although I must confess that your worthy cousin would create
much fluttering of hearts and waving of ivory fans around Newport and
Lennox,--where American hearts, of a sort, and American fortunes of
questionable worth are bartered for a tin-plated coronet. But that's
the revenge of the Great God of Misfits."

He turned toward her, resting his hand upon the rail.

"You are no different physically, mentally, socially from many of the
Southern, Northern, and Western girls I have met in my own country. You
are dependent upon the fashions, to bring your charms to the utmost
effectiveness." The Princess blushed in the dark. "But, differing from
many of them, you do succeed!" he added.

"You are just as human as the fine girls I have met back home--your
titled cla