ert--Prince
Aribert--doesn't wish to occupy the throne. He'd much prefer not to have
it.'

'Much prefer not to have it! Don't talk nonsense. If he's honest with
himself, he'll admit that he'll be jolly glad to have it. Thrones are in
his blood, so to speak.'

'You are wrong, Father. And the reason is this: If Prince Aribert
ascended the throne of Posen he would be compelled to marry a Princess.'

'Well! A Prince ought to marry a Princess.'

'But he doesn't want to. He wants to give up all his royal rights, and
live as a subject. He wants to marry a woman who isn't a Princess.'

'Is she rich?'

'Her father is,' said the girl. 'Oh, Dad! can't you guess? He--he loves
me.' Her head fell on Theodore's shoulder and she began to cry.

The millionaire whistled a very high note. 'Nell!' he said at length.
'And you? Do you sort of cling to him?'

'Dad,' she answered, 'you are stupid. Do you imagine I should worry
myself like this if I didn't?' She smiled through her tears. She knew
from her father's tone that she had accomplished a victory.

'It's a mighty queer arrangement,' Theodore remarked. 'But of course
if you think it'll be of any use, you had better go down and tell your
Prince Eugen that that million can be fixed up, if he really needs it. I
expect there'll be decent security, or Sampson Levi wouldn't have mixed
himself up in it.'

'Thanks, Dad. Don't come with me; I may manage better alone.'

She gave a formal little curtsey and disappeared. Racksole, who had the
talent, so necessary to millionaires, of attending to several matters
at once, the large with the small, went off to give orders about the
breakfast and the remuneration of his assistant of the evening before,
Mr George Hazell. He then sent an invitation to Mr Felix Babylon's room,
asking that gentleman to take breakfast with him. After he had related
to Babylon the history of Jules' capture, and had a long discussion with
him upon several points of hotel management, and especially as to the
guarding of wine-cellars, Racksole put on his hat, sallied forth into
the Strand, hailed a hansom, and was driven to the City. The order and
nature of his operations there were, too complex and technical to be
described here.

When Nella returned to the State bedroom both the doctor and the great
specialist were again in attendance. The two physicians moved away from
the bedside as she entered, and began to talk quietly together in the
embrasure of the window