m at the casino; but his wound seemed to open
again, and his heart to be grasped as in an iron hand, as he listened to
the plaintive cries and moans of the Tzigani music. Had the strings of
the bows played these czardas upon his own sinews, laid bare, he would
not have trembled more violently. Every note of the well-known airs fell
upon his heart like a corrosive tear, and Marsa, in all her dark, tawny
beauty, rose before him. The Tzigani played now the waltzes which Marsa
used to play; then the slow, sorrowful plaint of the "Song of Plevna;"
and then the air of Janos Nemeth's, the heart-breaking melody, to
the Prince like the lament of his life: 'The World holds but One Fair
Maiden'. And at every note he saw again Marsa, the one love of his
existence.

"Let us go!" he said suddenly to Yanski.

But, as they were about to leave the building, they almost ran into a
laughing, merry group, led by the little Baroness Dinati, who uttered a
cry of delight as she perceived Andras.

"What, you, my dear Prince! Oh, how glad I am to see you!"

And she took his arm, all the clan which accompanied her stopping to
greet Prince Zilah.

"We have come from Etretat, and we are going back there immediately.
There was a fair at Havre in the Quartier Saint-Francois, and we have
eaten up all we could lay our hands on, broken all Aunt Sally's pipes,
and purchased all the china horrors and hideous pincushions we could
find. They are all over there in the break. We are going to raffle them
at Etretat for the poor."

The Prince tried to excuse himself and move on, but the little Baroness
held him tight.

"Why don't you come to Etretat? It is charming there. We don't do
anything but eat and drink and talk scandal--Oh, yes! Yamada sometimes
gives us some music. Come here, Yamada!"

The Japanese approached, in obedience to her call, with his eternal grin
upon his queer little face.

"My dear Prince," rattled on the Baroness, "you don't know, perhaps,
that Yamada is the most Parisian of Parisians? Upon my word, these
Japanese are the Parisians of Asia! Just fancy what he has been doing at
Etretat! He has been writing a French operetta!"

"Japanese!" corrected Yamada, with an apologetic bow.

"Oh, Japanese! Parisian Japanese, then! At all events, it is very
funny, and the title is Little Moo-Moo! There is a scene on board a
flower-decked boat! Oh, it is so amusing, so original, so natural! and a
delightful song for Little Moo-Moo!"

T