As for the men, though madness lay that way, eagerly as of old
they sought it.

By way of parenthesis: Herr Rosen marched up the hill and down again,
something after the manner of a certain warrior king celebrated in verse.
The object of his visit had gone to the ball at Cadenabbia. At the hotel
he demanded a motor-boat. There was none to be had. In a furious state of
mind he engaged two oarsmen to row him across the lake.

And so it came to pass that when Nora, suddenly grown weary of the play,
full of bitterness and distaste, hating herself and every one else in the
world, stole out to the quay to commune with the moon, she saw him jump
from the boat to the landing, scorning the steps. Instantly she drew her
lace mantle closely about her face. It was useless. In the man the
hunter's instinct was much too keen.

"So I have found you!"

"One would say that I had been in hiding?" coldly.

"From me, always. I have left everything--duty, obligations--to seek
you."

"From any other man that might be a compliment."

"I am a prince," he said proudly.

She faced him with that quick resolution, that swift forming of purpose,
which has made the Irish so difficult in argument and persuasion. "Will
you marry me? Will you make me your wife legally? Before all the world?
Will you surrender, for the sake of this love you profess, your right to a
great inheritance? Will you risk the anger and the iron hand of your
father for my sake?"

"_Herr Gott!_ I am mad!" He covered his eyes.

"That expression proves that your Highness is sane again. Have you
realized the annoyances, the embarrassments, you have thrust upon me by
your pursuit? Have you not read the scandalous innuendoes in the
newspapers? Your Highness, I was not born on the Continent, so I look upon
my work from a point of view not common to those of your caste. I am proud
of it, and I look upon it with honor, honor. I am a woman, but I am not
wholly defenseless. There was a time when I thought I might number among
my friends a prince; but you have made that impossible."

"Come," he said hoarsely; "let us go and find a priest. You are right. I
love you; I will give up everything, everything!"

For a moment she was dumb. This absolute surrender appalled her. But that
good fortune which had ever been at her side stepped into the breach. And
as she saw the tall form of the Barone approach, she could have thrown her
arms around his neck in pure gladness.

"Oh, Baron