e, standing in a courtyard at the farther
end, when he was conscious of a figure advancing along the path to meet
him: as it approached he saw that it was that of a lady of tall and
commanding appearance, and apparently of great beauty; she wore the
dress of some sisterhood. When he was near enough to see her face he
found that it was indeed beautiful, with an expression of the purest
sincerity and benevolence. The lady stopped and spoke to Mark at once.

"You must be the new tutor to their Highnesses," she said; "I have heard
of you."

Mark said that he was.

"You do not look well," said the lady, very kindly; "are you happy at
the palace?"

"Are you the Princess Isoline?" said Mark, not answering the question;
"I think you must be, you are so beautiful."

"I am the Princess Isoline," said the lady; "walk a little way with me."

Mark turned with the lady and walked back towards the palace. After a
moment or two he said: "I am not happy at Joyeuse, I am very miserable,
I want to run away."

"What makes you so unhappy? Are they not kind to you? The Prince is very
kind, and the children are good children--I have always thought."

"They are all very kind, too kind to me," said the boy. "I cannot make
you understand why I am so miserable, I cannot tell myself--the Prince
is worse than all----"

"Why is the Prince the worst of all?" said the lady, in a very gentle
voice.

"All the rest I know are wrong," replied the boy, passionately--"the
actors, the Signorina, the pages, and all; but when the Prince looks at
me with his quiet smile--when the look comes into his eyes as though he
could see through time even into eternity--when he looks at me in his
kindly, pitying way--I begin to doubt. Oh, Highness, it is terrible to
doubt! Do you think that the Prince is right?"

The Princess was silent for a moment or two; it was not that she did not
understand the boy, for she understood him very well.

"No, I think you are right and not the Prince," she said at length, in
her quiet voice.

There was a pause: neither seemed to know what to say next. They had
now nearly reached the end of the avenue next the palace; the Princess
stopped.

"Come back with me," she said, "I will show you my house."

They walked slowly along the narrow pathway towards the old house at the
farther end. The Princess was evidently considering what to say.

"Why do you know that they are all wrong?" she said at last.

"Highness," said the