take them very
seriously. Her eyes sounded him.

"Yes," she said slowly; "are you frank, even to yourself?" and she spoke
as though a knowledge of the answer would make a task easier to her.

Wogan's speculations, however, were interrupted by the entrance of
Princess Casimira, Sobieski's eldest daughter. Wogan welcomed her coming
for the first time in all his life, for she was a kill-joy, a person of
an extraordinary decorum. According to Wogan, she was "that black care
upon the horseman's back which the poets write about." Her first
question if she was spoken to was whether the speaker was from top to
toe fitly attired; her second, whether the words spoken were well-bred.
At this moment, however, her mere presence put an end to the demands for
an explanation of Wogan's saying about his horse, and in a grateful mood
to her he slipped from the room.

This evening was but one of many during that Christmastide. Wogan must
wear an easy countenance, though his heart grew heavy as lead. The
Countess of Berg was the Prince Constantine's favourite; and Wogan was
not slow to discover that her smiling face and quiet eyes hid the most
masterful woman at that court. He made himself her assiduous servant,
whether in hunting amid the snow or in the entertainments at the palace,
but a quizzical deliberate word would now and again show him that she
was still his enemy. With the Princess Casimira he was a profound
critic of observances: he invented a new cravat and was most careful
that there should never be a wrinkle in his stockings; with the Princess
Charlotte he laughed till his head sang. He played all manner of parts;
the palace might have been the stage of a pantomime and himself the
harlequin. But for all his efforts it did not seem that he advanced his
cause; and if he made headway one evening with the Prince, the next
morning he had lost it, and so Christmas came and passed.

But two days after Christmas a courier brought a letter to the castle.
He came in the evening, and the letter was carried to Wogan while he was
at table. He noticed at once that it was in his King's hand, and he
slipped it quickly into his pocket. It may have been something
precipitate in his manner, or it may have been merely that all were on
the alert to mark his actions, but at once curiosity was aroused. No
plain words were said; but here and there heads nodded together and
whispered, and while some eyed Wogan suspiciously, a few women whose
heart