"Fifty thousand _lire_! Oh, Sandro!" The instinct of the woman showed,
in that her husband was her first thought; and her voice vibrated
joyously. "Fifty thousand _lire_!" they both repeated as though unable
to comprehend--and then, the full meaning of it dawning upon him, the
prince threw his arms about her in wild exuberance.

"Oh, my dear one!"--he punctuated each phrase with kisses--"now you
shall have everything . . . everything . . . your heart can wish! Stoves
you shall have . . . servants and dresses. . . . Yes, and your emeralds!
And your pearls! You shall have . . . emeralds set in a footstool! Every
_soldo_ is for you, _carissima_, it is all _yours_, YOURS!"

Gently she stopped him. "Sandro," she smiled, "Sandro _mio_, not the
mines of the Indies could supply your plans for spending!" Then her
voice broke, but she laughed through her tears and buried her face
against his throat.

After a moment the princess recovered herself. She looked up, blushing
like a girl--a little self-conscious that any one should have witnessed
the scene between herself and her husband. "We are very foolish," she
laughed. "But it is good to feel so joyous as that!" She got up and, as
she passed Nina, she put her hand caressingly under the girl's chin. "It
has not been a bad day, after all, has it?" she said. "And when fortune
begins to come, it always comes in waves--the difficulty is to make it
begin." Then she looked back at her husband, "Sandro, come with me, will
you? These children will not mind, I am sure, if we leave them for a
little while, and I want very much to talk to you." She smiled her
apology to Nina and Derby, who both stood up. Then she and the prince
went out of the door together, his arm about her waist.

When they had gone, Nina said softly: "They are dears, aren't they! Oh,
Jack, aren't you proud to think you are the cause of every bit of the
gladness they are feeling to-day?" She glanced up at him, her eyes
alight with a brilliant softness and tenderness. But he did not look at
her, and so answered merely her words: "I guess it would have worked out
all right, anyway." And then he seemed to study the pattern of the
carpet, and there was silence.

Nina stood leaning against a heavy table, and Derby stood near her with
his hands in his pockets and his attention engrossed on the floor. Both
seemed incapable of speaking or moving, as though a hypnotic spell had
fallen upon them. Twice, while her aunt and uncle