rson to
snub another not his equal in fortune; and as Mr. Barrymore never pushes
himself forward when people behave as if he were their inferior, I
determined to show unmistakably which man I valued more. Consequently,
when the Prince persisted in keeping at my shoulder, I turned and talked
over it to Mr. Barrymore following behind. But on the terrace level with
the hotel he had to leave us, for the automobile was to be shipped on
board a cargo-boat that sailed for Varenna some time before ours.

"Why are you always unkind to me? Have I been so unfortunate as to vex
you in any way?" asked the Prince, when we were alone.

"I am neither kind nor unkind," I replied in a practical, dry sort of
tone. "I am going in now to see why they want me."

"Please don't be in such a hurry," said the Prince. "Perhaps I made Miss
Beechy's message too urgent, for I had seen you with the chauffeur, and
I could not bear that you should be alone with him."

"It is stupid to speak of Mr. Barrymore as the chauffeur," I exclaimed
in a rage. "And it's not your affair Prince, to concern yourself with my
actions."

With that I darted into the long corridor that opens from the terrace,
and left him furiously tugging at his moustache.

"Did you send the Prince to call me in, Beechy?" I asked, after I had
tapped at her door.

"I happened to see the Prince and have a little talk with him in the
garden a few minutes ago," said she, "and I told him if he saw you he
might say we'd be glad if you'd come. Mamma's in such a stew finishing
her packing, and it would be nice if you'd help shut the dressing-bag."

Aunt Kathryn hadn't been herself, it seemed to me, during our two days
at Bellagio. This morning she had a headache, and though I'd hoped that
she would walk down to the boat with the Prince, she decided to take the
hotel omnibus, so I was pestered with him once more. Beechy and Sir
Ralph were having an argument of some sort (in which I heard that funny
nickname "the Chauffeulier" occur several times), and as Mr. Barrymore
had gone ahead with the car and our luggage, the Prince kept with me all
the way through the terraced garden, then down the quaint street of
steps past the bright-coloured silk-shops, to the crowded little quay. I
should have thought that after my last words he would have avoided me,
but apparently he hadn't understood that he was being snubbed. He even
put himself out to be nice to the black dog from Airole, which is my
sh