seemed to
soften, and I could have sworn that for an instant the Princess Dehra
of Valeria smiled at me most sweetly--even as once she herself had done.

"You seem uncommonly well pleased with the lady," Courtney observed.

I handed back the News.

"You have not answered my question," he insisted.

"Look here, Courtney," I said, "it seems to me you are infernally
inquisitive to-night."

"Maybe I am--only, I wanted to know something," and he laughed softly.

"Well?"

"I think I know it now," he said.

"Do you?" I retorted.

"Want to make a bet?" he asked.

"I never bet on a certainty," said I.

Courtney laughed. "Neither do I, so here's the wager:--a dinner for
twenty that you and I are in Valeria thirty days from to-night and have
dined with the King and danced with the Princess."

"Done!" said I.

"All I stipulate is that you do nothing to avoid King Frederick's
invitation."

"And the Princess?" I asked.

"I'm counting on her to win me the bet," he laughed.

I picked up the picture and studied it again. The longer I looked the
more willing I was to give Courtney a chance to eat my dinner.

"If the opportunity comes I'll dance with her," I said.

"Of course you will--but will you stop there, I wonder?"

I tapped my grey-besprinkled hair.

"They are no protection," he said. "I don't trust even my own to keep
me steady against a handsome woman."

"They are playing us false even now," said I. "I'm not going to
Valeria to decide a dinner bet."

"You're not. You're going as the representative of our Army to observe
the Valerian-Titian War."

"You're as good as a gypsy or a medium. When do I start?"

"Don't be rude, my dear chap, and forget that, under the wager, I'm to
be in the King's invitation--also the dance. We sail one week from
to-day."

"A bit late to secure accommodations, isn't it?"

"They are booked--on the Wilhelm der Grosse."

"You are playing a long shot--several long shots," I
laughed:--"War--Washington--me."

"Wrong," said Courtney. "I'm playing only War. I have the Secretary
and the Princess has you."

"You have the Secretary!"

"Days ago."

"The Devil!" I exclaimed, lifting my glass abstractedly.

"The Princess! you mean," said Courtney quickly, lifting his own and
clicking mine.

I looked at the picture again--and again it seemed to smile at me.

"The Princess!" I echoed; and we drank the toast. "We're a pair of old
fools," said I, when the glasses