to lead for a year. The maid had disappeared, presumably to
look for a place, and when it was time for luncheon it was not without
difficulty that Madame Bernard got a footman to bring something cold
on a tray. It was quite clear by this time that the whole household
knew the truth and expected Angela to leave the palace that day, and
the little woman paused more than once in her packing to shake her
fist at the slim visions of the Princess Chiaromonte that crossed the
field of her imagination.

Downstairs matters proceeded as she had foreseen. The Princess, two
lawyers, a notary, and several clerks had removed the seals and locked
themselves in the inner apartment to examine the papers and such
valuables as were there; but it is needless to say that they found
nothing in the nature of a will, nor any document even expressing a
wish on the part of the deceased. The notary observed that it was very
strange, but one of the lawyers shrugged his shoulders and smiled,
while the other asked why, in the nature of things, a man so young and
healthy as the late Prince should have been expected to make careful
preparations against his sudden demise when he might well expect to
live thirty years longer. The Princess said nothing, and her husband
did not appear; indeed, he never did, and on all occasions of
importance, like the present, the Princess was provided with a power
of attorney to represent him, speak for him, decide for him, and sign
documents for him. There were many stories about him in society, none
of which contained more than the merest particle of truth. Some people
said he was mad, others maintained that he was paralysed; there were
those who confidently asserted that his face was disfigured by an
unsightly claret mark, and it was even suggested that he was a leper.
When any of these tales were repeated to his wife by dear friends, she
answered that he was very well and had just gone to the Abruzzi to
look after one of the large holdings of the estate, or that he was in
Hungary, shooting with distant cousins who had lands there, or that,
if the truth must be known, he had a touch of the influenza and would
probably run down to Sicily for a change, as soon as he was able to
travel. Angela herself had not seen him since she had been a mere
child. She remembered that once, when she was at her aunt's, a tall,
pale man with a thoughtful face had passed through the room quickly
without paying the least attention to any