for keeping from her. And at last she learned the truth that she did
love him, and it frightened her, and made her miserable and happy.
They had not seen each other since he had left Paris for Messina, and
though they spoke now only of his mission to the island, there was back
of what they said the joy for each of them of being together again and
of finding that it meant so much. What it might mean to the other,
neither knew.

For some little time the King followed the two young people with his
eyes, and then joined them, making signs to Kalonay that he wished him
to leave them together; but Kalonay remained blind to his signals, and
Barrat, seeing that it was not a tete-a-tete, joined them also. When
he did so Kalonay asked the King for a word, and laying his hand upon
his arm walked with him down the terrace, pointing ostensibly to where
the yacht lay in the harbor. Louis answered his pantomime with an
appropriate gesture, and then asked, sharply, "Well, what is it? Why
did you bring me here? And what do you mean by staying on when you see
you are not wanted?"

They were some distance from the others. Kalonay smiled and made a
slight bow. "Your Majesty," he began, with polite emphasis. The King
looked at him curiously.

"In the old days under similar circumstances," the Prince continued,
with the air of a courtier rather than that of an equal, "had I thought
of forming an alliance by marriage, I should have come to your Majesty
first and asked your gracious approval. But those days are past, and
we are living at the end of the century; and we do such things
differently." He straightened himself and returned the King's look of
amused interest with one as cynical as his own. "What I wanted to tell
you, Louis," he said, quietly, "is that I mean to ask Miss Carson to
become the Princess Kalonay."

The King raised his head quickly and stared at the younger man with a
look of distaste and surprise. He gave an incredulous laugh.

"Indeed?" he said at last. "There was always something about rich
women you could never resist."

The Prince made his acknowledgment with a shrug of his shoulders and
smiled indifferently.

"I didn't expect you to understand," he said. "It does seem odd; it's
quite as difficult for me to understand as for you. I have been
through it a great many times, and I thought I knew all there was of
it. But now it seems different. No, it does not seem different," he
corrected himsel