ich was hastily tried on
behind a gilded screen; and the wax lady was robbed of gold embroidered
stockings and golden shoes to match. There was a hat of dark blue with a
crown of silver-threaded golden gauze, which was indispensable with the
dress. To wear over this a long cloak of white satin with a wide collar
of swansdown, was the _dernier cri_ of Paris, Madame assured her
customer. There were other dresses and hats too, for morning and
afternoon, and even more extravagant _dessous_ than those Jennings had
tabooed in London.

After the first, Mary forgot to ask prices. She was lost in a delirium
of buying, and ordered whatever she liked, until her brain was tired.

She then thanked Madame charmingly for her politeness and asked to have
the things sent home at once.

But yes, they should go on the moment. And would Mademoiselle pay now,
or at her hotel?

Mary laughed at herself, because she had forgotten about paying. It
might as well be now, as she wished to go farther and get some gloves.
Deftly Madame made out the account. It came to three thousand eight
hundred and ninety francs.

When Mary had mentally turned francs into pounds she was a little
startled; but luckily, against her aunt's advice, she had come away with
a good deal of ready money, English, French, and Italian. It took nearly
all she had to settle the bill, but, as Madame remarked gayly,
Mademoiselle had left herself enough for an evening game at the Casino.
This was, of course, true, as more could somehow be obtained to-morrow.
For the moment Mary had forgotten her curiosity about the pleasant,
basking animal in the garden, but she decided that, after dinner--which
she must have soon, as she was already beginning to be hungry--she would
walk into the monster's smiling mouth.

VI

Prince Giovanni Della Robbia, known to his friends in Rome as Vanno,
went down early to dinner at the Paris. This, not because he was hungry,
but having come to the hotel because he knew that his Juliet of
Marseilles was there, he had no intention of missing a chance to look at
her. If she did not appear early, he would go on dining until it was
late, no matter how late.

Such a resolution, and just such an adventure as this into which he had
flung himself with characteristic impulsiveness and passion, were
strange for Prince Vanno, because since a first unhappy love, when he
was a mere boy, he had avoided women. Adventure and romance were in his
blood, th