with his elbow on a cushion, just
as if he were addressing a public meeting. He looked at his elbow as
if he expected to find a glass of water there ready, and Belvane
divined his look and made a movement as if she were about to get it
for him. It would be just like her. He flung the cushion from him
("Oh, mind my roses," cried Belvane) and came down angrily to her.
Belvane looked at him with wide, innocent eyes.

"You--you--oh, _don't_ look like that!"

"Like that?" said Belvane, looking like it again.

"Don't _do_ it," shouted Udo, and he turned and kicked the cushion
down the flagged path. "Stop it."

Belvane stopped it.

"Do you know," she said, "I'm rather frightened of you when you're
angry with me."

"I _am_ angry. Very, very angry. Excessively annoyed."

"I thought you were," she sighed.

"And you know very well why."

She nodded her head at him.

"It's my dreadful temper," she said. "I do such thoughtless things
when I lose my temper."

She sighed again and looked meekly at the ground.

"Er, well, you shouldn't," said Udo weakly.

"It was the slight to my sex that made me so angry. I couldn't bear
to think that we women couldn't rule ourselves for such a short time,
and that a man had to be called in to help us." She looked up at him
shyly. "Of course I didn't know then what the man was going to be
like. But now that I know----"

Suddenly she held her arms out to him beseechingly.

"Stay with us, Prince Udo, and help us! Men are so wise, so brave,
so--so generous. They know nothing of the little petty feelings of
revenge that women indulge."

"Really, Countess, we--er--you--er---- Of course there is a good deal
in what you say, and I--er----"

"Won't you sit down again, Prince Udo?"

Udo sat down next to her.

"And now," said Belvane, "let's talk it over comfortably as friends
should."

"Of course," began Udo, "I quite see your point. You hadn't seen me;
you didn't know anything about me; to you I might have been just any
man."

"I knew a little about you when you came here. Beneath
the--er--outward mask I saw how brave and dignified you were. But
even if I could have got you back into your proper form again, I think
I should have been afraid to; because I didn't know then how generous,
how forgiving you were."

It seemed to be quite decided that Udo was forgiving her. When a very
beautiful woman thanks you humbly for something you have not yet given
her, there