it mine."

"Geraldine," said the Prince, "if your honour suffers in any of the
adventures into which you follow me, not only will I never pardon you,
but--what I believe will much more sensibly affect you--I should never
forgive myself."

"I receive your Highness's commands," replied the Colonel. "Shall we go
from this accursed spot?"

"Yes," said the Prince. "Call a cab in Heaven's name, and let me try to
forget in slumber the memory of this night's disgrace."

But it was notable that he carefully read the name of the court before
he left it.

The next morning, as soon as the Prince was stirring, Colonel Geraldine
brought him a daily newspaper, with the following paragraph marked:--

"MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.--This morning, about two o'clock, Mr.
Bartholomew Malthus, of 16 Chepstow Place, Westbourne Grove, on his
way home from a party at a friend's house, fell over the upper
parapet in Trafalgar Square, fracturing his skull and breaking a leg
and an arm. Death was instantaneous. Mr. Malthus, accompanied by a
friend, was engaged in looking for a cab at the time of the
unfortunate occurrence. As Mr. Malthus was paralytic, it is thought
that his fall may have been occasioned by another seizure. The
unhappy gentleman was well known in the most respectable circles, and
his loss will be widely and deeply deplored."

"If ever a soul went straight to Hell," said Geraldine solemnly, "it was
that paralytic man's."

The Prince buried his face in his hands, and remained silent.

"I am almost rejoiced," continued the Colonel, "to know that he is dead.
But for our young man of the cream tarts I confess my heart bleeds."

"Geraldine," said the Prince, raising his face, "that unhappy lad was
last night as innocent as you and I; and this morning the guilt of blood
is on his soul. When I think of the President, my heart grows sick
within me. I do not know how it shall be done, but I shall have that
scoundrel at my mercy as there is a God in heaven. What an experience,
what a lesson, was that game of cards!"

"One," said the Colonel, "never to be repeated."

The Prince remained so long without replying that Geraldine grew
alarmed.

"You cannot mean to return," he said. "You have suffered too much and
seen too much horror already. The duties of your high position forbid
the repetition of the hazard."

"There is much in what you say," replied Prince Florizel, "and I am not
altogether pleased with my own de