-of the splendor of the interior; the
rich costumes of the women; the blaze of decorations worn by the men;
the graciousness of the Empress and the charm of her beauty--then of a
visit he had made to the Exile a few months after he had reached
Chiselhurst. Throwing up his hands he said: "A feeble old man with
hollow eyes and a cracked voice. Oh, such a pity! For he was
royal--although all Europe laughed."

When the time came for me to go--it was near midnight, to my
astonishment--he followed me to the door, bidding me good-night with
both hands over mine, saying I should come again when he was at
leisure, as he had been that night--which I promised to do, adding my
thanks for what I declared was the most delightful evening I had ever
spent in my life.

And it had been--and with it there had oozed out of my mind every drop
of my former suspicion. There was another side that he was hiding from
us, but it was the side of tenderness for his children--for those he
loved and from whom he was parted. I had boasted to myself of my
intuition and had looked, as I supposed, deep into his heart, and all I
found were three little faces. With this came a certain feeling of
shame that I had been stupid enough to allow my imagination to run away
with my judgment. Hereafter I would have more sense.

All that winter Bing was the life of the house. The days on which his
seat was empty--off getting statistics for the encyclopaedia, I
explained to my fellow-boarders, I being looked upon now as having
special information owing to my supposed intimacy, although I had never
entered his room since that night--on these days, I say, the table
relapsed into its old-time dullness.

One night I found his card on my pin-cushion. I always locked my door
myself when I left my room--had done so that night, I thought, but I
must have forgotten it. Under his name was written: "Say good-by to the
others."

I concluded, of course, that it was but for a few days and that he
would return as usual, and hold out his two big generous hands to each
one down the table, leaving a warmth behind him which they had not
known since he last pressed their palms--and so on down until he
reached Miss Buffum and the school-teacher, who would both rise in
their seats to welcome him.

With the passing of the first week the good lady became uneasy; the
board, as usual, had been paid in advance, but it was the man she
missed. No one else could add the drop of oil to the