ney
within the next few days."

"Not back to Berlin?" Anna exclaimed.

Their solitude had been invaded by now, and the Princess was talking to
two or three men who were grouped about her chair. The Ambassador stooped
a little lower.

"To Rome," he whispered.

CHAPTER XXIV

Back from the dusty roads, the heat and noise of the long day, Anna was
resting on the couch in her sitting-room. A bowl of roses and a note
which she had read three or four times stood on a little table by her
side. One of the blossoms she had fastened into the bosom of her loose
gown. The blinds were drawn, the sounds of the traffic outside were
muffled and distant. Her bath had been just the right temperature, her
maid's attention was skilful and delicate as ever. She was conscious of
the drowsy sweet perfume of the flowers, the pleasant sense of powdered
cleanliness. Everything should have conduced to rest, but she lay there
with her eyes wide-open. There was so much to think about, so much that
was new finding its way into her stormy young life.

"Madame!"

Anna turned her head. Her maid had entered noiselessly from the inner
room and was standing by her side.

"Madame does not sleep? There is a person outside who waits for an
interview. I have denied him, as all others. He gave me this."

Anna almost snatched the piece of paper from her maid's fingers. She
glanced at the name, and the disappointment which shone in her eyes was
very apparent. It was succeeded by an impulse of surprise.

"You can show him in," she directed.

Selingman appeared a few moments later--Selingman, cool, rosy, and
confident, on the way to his beloved bridge club. He took the hand
which Anna, without moving, held out to him, and raised it gallantly
to his lips.

"I thought it was understood, my crockery friend," she murmured, "that in
London we did not interchange visits."

"Most true, gracious lady," he admitted, "but there are circumstances
which can alter the most immovable decisions. At this moment we are
confronted with one. I come to discuss with you the young Englishman,
Francis Norgate."

She turned her head a little. Her eyes were full of enquiry.

"To discuss him with me?"

Selingman's eyes as though by accident fell upon the roses and the note.

"Ah, well," she murmured, "go on."

"It is wonderful," Selingman proceeded, "to be able to tell the truth. I
speak to you as one comrade to another. This young man was your companion
at