eating shark. I am what
you might call a composite zoo. If you want to get a line on me just
read this article on _The Shameless Brigand of Bessemer_, and you will
certainly find out that I am a nice young fellow."

Kalora had studied English for years and thought she knew it, and yet
she found it difficult fully, to comprehend all the figurative phrases
of this pleasing young stranger.

"Do I understand that you are traveling abroad because of your
unpopularity at home?" she asked.

"I am waiting for things to cool down. As soon as the muck-rakers wear
out their rakes, and the great American public finds some other kind of
hysterics to keep it worked up to a proper temperature, I shall mosey
back and resume business at the old stand. But why tell you the story of
my life? Play fair now, and tell me a lot about yourself. Where am I?"

"You are here in my father's private garden, where you hare no right to
be."

"And father?"

"Is Count Selim Malagaski, Governor-General of Morovenia."

"Wow! And you?"

"I am his daughter."

"The daughter of all that must be something. Have you a title?"

"I am called Princess."

"Can you beat that? Climb up a wall to see some A-rabs perform, and find
a real, sure-enough princess, and likewise, if you don't mind my saying
so, a pippin."

"I don't know what you mean," she said.

"A corker."

"Corker?"

"I mean that you're a good-looker--that it's no labor at all to gaze
right at you. I didn't think they grew them so far from headquarters,
but I see I'm wrong. You are certainly all right. Pardon me for saying
this to you so soon after we meet, but I have learned that you will
never break a woman's heart by telling her that she is a beaut."

[Illustration: "Are you a real ingenue, or a kidder?"]

Kalora leaned back in her chair and laughed. She was beginning to
comprehend the whimsical humor of the very unusual young man. His direct
and playful manner of speech amused her, and also seemed to reassure
her. And, when he seated himself within a few inches of her elbow,
fanning himself with the little straw hat, and calmly inspecting the
tiny landscape of the forbidden garden, she made no protest against his
familiarity, although she knew that she was violating the most sacred
rules laid down for her sex.

She reasoned thus with herself:

"To-day I have disgraced myself to the utmost, and, since I am utterly
shamed, why not revel in my lawlessness?"

Besides, she wish