Virginia shrank out of sight against the cushions, blushing, and
breathing quickly as she caught her mother's hand.

"Dear people,--dear, kind people," she thought. "I love them for
loving him. I wonder, oh I wonder, if they will ever see me and cheer
me, driving by his side?"

She had chosen to wear the white dress with the pearls, though up to
the last moment the Grand Duchess had suffered tortures of indecision
between that and the blue, to say nothing of a pink chiffon trimmed
with crushed roses. Before the carriage brought them to the palace
doors, the girl's blush had faded, and her face was as white as her
gown when at her mother's side she passed between bowing lackeys
through the marble Hall of Lions, on through the frescoed Rittersaal
to the throne room where the Emperor's guests awaited his coming.

It was etiquette not to arrive a moment later than ten o'clock; and a
few minutes after the hour Baron von Lyndal, in his official capacity
as Grand Master of Ceremonies, struck the polished floor twice with
his gold-knobbed wand of ivory. This signaled the approach of the
court from the Imperial dinner party, and Leopold entered, with a
stout, middle-aged Royal Highness from Russia on his arm.

Until his arrival the beautiful Miss Mowbray had held all eyes; and
even when he appeared, she was not forgotten. Every one was on tenter
hooks to see how she would be greeted by the grateful Emperor.

The instant that his dark head towered above other heads in the throne
room, it was observed even by those not usually observant, that never
had Leopold been so handsome.

His was a face remarkable for intellect and firmness rather than for
classical beauty of feature, though his features were strong and
clearly cut; but to-night the sternness that sometimes marred them in
the eyes of women was smoothed away. He looked young and ardent,
almost boyish, like a man who has suddenly found an absorbing new
interest in life.

The first dance he went through with the Russian Royalty, who was the
guest of the evening; and, still rigidly conforming to the line of
duty (which obtains in court ball-rooms as on battlefields), the
second, third and fourth dances were for the Emperor penances instead
of pleasures. But for the fifth--a waltz--he bowed before Virginia.

During this long hour there had been hardly a movement, smile or
glance of hers which he had not contrived to see, since his entrance.
He knew just how well Baron