Of course, I knew well enough that all this moving circus was
make-believe, and that every wild animal had a man in him, just as every
man has the shadow of some animal in his nature. But I couldn't help
stepping back and shuddering a little, when a great big lumbering
elephant rolled by, with his trunk curled up in the air, and almost trod
on me.

"Oh, mercy!" says I, with a little scream. "He's enough to frighten one
out of a year's growth!"

"Don't be terrified," says a voice behind me, and I felt an arm
a-stealing around my waist; "I am here to protect you."

I looked up. My heart stopped beating. The stranger was tall, majestic,
and the eyes that shone through his mask were blue as robin's eggs. He
had on a black cloak, and the mask covered his whole face; but how could
I mistake the princely bend of that head, the breadth of those majestic
shoulders.

He drew me back from the crowd. I forgot Cousin Dempster, E. E., and
everything else, in the ecstasy of that sweet surprise.

"You have forgotten the roses," he whispered, with a look of loving
reproach.

I felt for the bouquet Cousin Dempster had given me--it was gone.

"I must have dropped them as I got out of the carriage," says I. "But
when did you come?" I added, in a whisper, tremulous with bliss.

"Oh, I came an hour ago, and in the usual way," was his sweet answer;
"but, not seeing the flowers, I doubted."

"Ah! how I prayed that you would grow weary of that miserable buffalo
hunt, and return!" says I.

He seemed just a little puzzled, but at last broke out:

"Oh, it's all a grotesque farce. Why should wise men turn themselves
into wild animals, if it is only in sport? I never enjoy such parties
for themselves."

"I am glad to hear you say that," says I; "and more glad that you have
left off hunting with Phil Sheridan; he might have led you into some
Indian camp filled with Modocs, who would have shot you for sport."

"Sheridan," says he. "Oh, he doesn't stay in one place long enough to do
much harm."

"Exactly," says I; "but he works quickly. Still, you are here, safe and
sound; why should we waste time over him?"

"True enough," says he; "so take my arm, and let us promenade."

I took his arm, and clasping both hands over it after a fashion I have
seen prevalent among young girls when they walk out with their lovers by
moonlight, moved proudly through that throng--very proudly--for I knew
that long cloak covered imperial greatness that w