ue, you will understand that they are
painful for me to listen to."

"You must have patience, Mr. Greatson," she said quietly. "At present I
am feeling my way through my thoughts. There is rash blood in Isobel's
veins, and I should like her life to be happier than her mother's. She
is unconventional and a lover of freedom. The etiquette of our Court at
Illghera will chafe her continually. I wonder, Mr. Greatson, if she
would not be happier--married to some one of humbler birth, perhaps, but
who can give her the sort of life she desires."

I was for a moment dumb with astonishment. Apart from the amazement of
the whole thing, the Archduchess was not in the least the sort of person
to be seriously interested in the abstract question of Isobel's
happiness. At least, I should not have supposed her capable of it. I
imagine that she must have read my thoughts, for after a searching
glance at me she continued:

"You doubt my disinterestedness, Mr. Greatson. Perhaps you are right. I
wish the child well, but there is also this fact to be considered.
Isobel married to an English gentleman such as, say, yourself, would be
no longer a serious rival to my daughter in the affections of her
grandfather."

Then indeed I began to understand. What a woman of resource! She watched
me closely behind the feathers of her fan.

"Come," she said, "this time my plot is an innocent one, and it is for
Isobel's happiness as well as for my daughter's benefit. Speak to her
now. Marry her at once, here in Paris, and I will give her for dowry
twenty thousand pounds!"

I ground my heel into the carpet, and I was grateful for those long
black feathers which waved gracefully in front of my face. For I was
tempted--sorely tempted. The woman's words rang like mad music in my
brain. Speak to her! Why not? It was the great joy of the world which
waited for me to pluck it. Why not? I was not an old man, the child was
fond of me, a single word of compliance, and I might step into my
kingdom. Oh, the rapture of it, the wonderful joy of taking her hands in
mine, of dropping once and for ever the mask from my face, the gag from
my tongue! A rush of wild thoughts turned me dizzy. My secret was no
longer a secret at all. The Archduchess leaned a little closer to me,
and whispered behind those fluttering feathers--

"You are a very wonderful person, Mr. Greatson, that you have kept
silence so long. The necessity for it has passed. The child loves you. I
am