the best,"
said Patsy's father.

And with that he kissed her and was gone. Patsy watched him as he walked
down the avenue towards the river, where he would find a waterman to
carry him to town. Adam Ferris had a stoop in his shoulders she never
remembered to have noticed before. For the first time it struck her that
her father was growing old.

Something caught her in the throat, something dry and hard that swelled
but would not break. She could have run after him and told him that she
would not stay without him. But the Princess, who had been watching
keenly, took her by the hand and, whispering that she had something to
say to her, drew her into a little boudoir looking out on a garden, all
shaven lawns, artificial ponds, in which stately swans moved slowly up
and down with a barge-like gallant manner as though they were accustomed
to take part in royal processions.

"And now," said the Princess Elsa, drawing Patsy down on a sofa by the
window, "let me look at you that I may see what it is that sets all the
men agate to be carrying you off, and fighting duels about you. I
suppose a woman cannot always tell, just because she is a woman. But I
can see that you are vivid with life. You shine like a black pearl--"

Patsy drew in her breath sharply at the word.

"That was what he called me," she said nervously, looking about the room
as if she expected her sometime captor to appear.

"He? Who? That wretch of a Lyonesse? Do not trouble your pretty head. He
will not come near Hanover Lodge--neither he nor any of his brothers,
except perhaps poor Billy."

The Princess did not further embarrass Patsy by prolonging her
inspection. She began to talk of Galloway and of the people whom Patsy
knew. Nothing loath was Patsy to pour out her soul on such a subject.
This was Uncle Julian's Princess, and though she seemed older than she
had anticipated--fairy princesses should at least always remain
slim--she had all the gracefully placid beauty and the exquisite manners
she had looked forward to.

Patsy told of Louis Raincy and his grandfather--of Castle Raincy and the
four hundred-year-old feud between the Raincys and the Ferrises. She
told the story of her rescue, and how Stair had shot the Duke, while
Louis kept the horses to be ready for the return.

"And what is this Stair Garland?" the Princess asked. "The son of a
yeoman, and not the eldest son. Ah, I understand--the cadet, the
adventurous one. We have some such in our