ss Honey bore witness, jealous of the lady's
flashing smile to Caroline, "my mother says I'm twice the trouble he
is!"

The Princess laughed aloud. "You're all trouble enough, I can well
believe," she said carelessly, "though you particular three are
certainly amusing little duds--for an afternoon. But for a steady
diet--I'm afraid I'd get a bit tired of you, eh?"

She tapped their cheeks lightly with a cool, sweet-smelling finger.
Miss Honey smiled uncertainly, but Caroline edged away. There was
something about this beautiful tall lady she could not understand,
something that alternately attracted and repelled. She was grown up,
certainly; her skirts, her size and her coiled hair proved that
conclusively, and the servants obeyed her without question. But what
was it? She was not like the other grown up people one knew. One
moment she sparkled at you and the next moment she forgot you. It
was perfectly obvious that she wanted the General only because Delia
had not wanted to relinquish him, which was not like grown people;
it was like--yes, that was it: she was like a little girl herself,
even though she was so tall and had such large red and blue rings on
her fingers.

Vaguely this rushed through Caroline's mind, and it was with an
unconscious air of patronage, that she said, as one making
allowances for inexperience, "When you get married, then you'll
_have_ to get tired of them, you know."

"But you'll be glad you've got 'em, when they're once in bed," Miss
Honey added encouragingly. "My mother says I'm a real treasure to
her, after half past seven!"

The Princess flushed; her straight dark eyebrows quivered and met
for an instant.

"But I _am_ married," she said.

There was an utter silence.

"I was married five years ago yesterday, as it happens," she went
on, "but it's not necessary to set up a day nursery, you know, under
those circumstances."

Still silence. Miss Honey studied the floor, and Caroline, after an
astonished stare at the Princess, directed her eyes from one
tapestry to another.

"I suppose you understand that, don't you?" demanded the Princess
sharply. She appeared unnecessarily irritated, and as a matter of
fact embarrassed her guests to such an extent that they were utterly
unable to relieve the stillness that oppressed them quite as much as
herself.

The Princess uttered an angry exclamation and paced rapidly up and
down the room, looking more regal and more unlike other people th