l this was rather above Gaspard's head. He turned to the imp at the
bellows.

"Stop blowing that fire so hard," he whispered. "You're wasting
charcoal."

The duke smiled grimly.

"The problem," he continued, "is this: Can any man and woman, however
devoted, continue to love each other if they are too closely held
together?"

There was a slight movement among some of the younger gentlemen and
ladies present--a few knowing smiles.

"There have always been those who answered _No_; there have always been
those who answered _Yes_," the duke went on. "Which were right?" No
answer. "My granddaughter here, while having her horse shod some weeks
ago, became enamored of this worthy subject of mine." He nodded toward
the smith. "She would have him. She would have no one else. We knew how
hopeless would be any attempt to impose our will--in an affair of the
heart." He smiled gallantly. "We are familiar with the breed."

"Long live the House of Burgundy," cried the chivalrous young Vicomte de
Macon. But the duke silenced him with a look.

"And now," said the duke, "we wish to test this so great passion of
hers--test it under conditions that while apparently extraordinary are
none the less classical and scientific. Our experiment is this--"

For the first time since he began to speak the duke now leaned forward,
and both his face and his voice took on that quality which made his name
a source of trembling from Spain to Denmark.

"Our experiment is this:

"_To have the princess and her smith, whom she is so sure she loves,
handcuffed and linked together by a ten-foot chain._"

II.

There was a gasp from the audience. Every one stared at the princess.
Even the duke himself. Without turning his head he took her in with his
furtive eyes.

"_Mlle. la Princess_," he said icily, "was good enough to insist upon
the sacrifice."

At this, a stain of richer color slowly crept up the throat of the
Princess Gabrielle; there came a touch of extra fire to her eyes.
Perhaps she would have spoken. But the duke hadn't finished yet.

"We'll see whether she loves him so much or not," said the duke. "We'll
give them three days of it--three days to go and come as they wish--and
to do as they wish--together--always together--bound to each other by
their ten-foot chain."

But while the excitement caused by the duke's announcement was still
crisping the nerves of every one present, the smith had cast one more
glance in the direction o