eat, faint and
trembling. By this time the company had formed into a circle, leaving
the Archduke Louis alone in the middle of the room--I, to my increasing
shame and confusion, being seated exactly behind where the prince stood.

There was a hope for me still; the archduchess might pass on through the
rooms without my being noticed. And this seemed likely enough, since she
was merely proceeding to the apartments of the empress, and not to delay
with us. This expectation was soon destined to be extinguished; for,
leaning on the arm of one of her ladies, the young princess came
straight over to where Prince Louis stood. She said something in a low
voice, and he turned immediately to offer her a chair; and there was
I seated, very pale, and very much shocked at my apparent rudeness.
Although I had been presented before to the young archduchess, she had
not seen me in the uniform of the Corps de Guides (in which I now served
as colonel), and never recognised me. She therefore stared steadily at
me, and turned towards her brother as if for explanation.

'Don't you know him?' said the archduke, laughing--'it's Colonel de
Tiernay; and if he cannot stand up, you certainly should be the last
to find fault with him. Pray sit quiet, Tiernay,' added he, pressing
me down on my seat; 'and if you won't look so terrified, my sister will
remember you.'

'We must both be more altered than I ever expect if I cease to remember
Monsieur de Tiernay,' said the archduchess, with a most courteous smile.
Then leaning on the back of a chair, she bent forward and inquired after
my health. There was something so strange in the situation: a young,
handsome girl condescending to a tone of freedom and intimacy with one
she had seen but a couple of times, and from whom the difference of
condition separated her by a gulf wide as the great ocean, that I felt
a nervous tremor I could not account for. Perhaps, with the tact that
royalty possesses as its own prerogative, or, perhaps, with mere womanly
intuition, she saw how the interview agitated me, and, to change the
topic, she suddenly said--

'I must present you to one of my ladies, Colonel de Tiernay, a
countrywoman of your own. She already has heard from me the story of
your noble devotion, and now only has to learn your name. Remember you
are to sit still.'

As she said this, she turned, and drawing her arm within that of a young
lady behind her, led her forward.

'It is to this gentleman I o