uring many years. Indeed, I met him yesterday
practically for the first time."

She sighed. Joan realized that Princess Delgrado was perplexed to find
her son with so many new interests in life, interests of which she had
no cognizance. He might have dwelt in some city a thousand miles removed
from Paris, for all she knew of his associates or habits, and this one
fact was eloquent of the gulf that yawned between his home and his
pursuits.

After breakfast, Joan insisted on beginning work in the Cathedral. Felix
and Beaumanoir accompanied her there in a closed carriage, and the cool
interior of the heavy, ugly structure was not ungrateful in the midday
heat.

At four o'clock Joan was ready to don a riding-habit that fitted
marvelously well considering that the maker had never set eyes on the
wearer till he brought the costume to the palace. At five she and Alec
and Beaumanoir went for a ride on the outskirts of the town. The men
took her to a very fine turfed avenue that wound through three miles of
woodland. At the close of a glorious canter a turn in the path revealed
a rather pretty chateau situated on a gentle slope of lawns and gardens
rising from the northern shore of a large lake.

"Do you like it?" asked Alec.

"It is a perfectly charming place," she said enthusiastically.

"I am glad you think so," said he. "It is called the New Konak, in
contradistinction to the old one, the Schwarzburg. It will be our summer
residence. I propose to occupy it as soon as it is properly furnished."

He spoke lightly; but a quiet glance conveyed far more than the words.
This, then, was their destined nest, their very own house, and for their
first ramble he had brought her there. Its seclusion gave a sense of
secure peace that was absent from the President's gloomy palace. The
lovely park and its belt of forest shut out the noise and glare of the
streets. Joan sat on her horse and surveyed the scene with glistening
eyes. Her future home lay there, and the belief thrilled her strangely.
If she could have peered into the future, how much more deeply would she
have been stirred; for if ever she was fated to be happy in the
companionship of the gallant youth by her side, assuredly that happiness
was not so near or so easily attained as it seemed to be in that sylvan
hour.

Beaumanoir broke in on her reverie in his usual happy-go-lucky style.
"Not a bad looking crib, is it, Miss Joan?" said he. "I have promised
Alec to remain