t and the popular actress so closely
associated with his works_"--why, to any one with the most superficial
knowledge of plays and players of the moment, it was as obvious as though
the names had been written in capitals.

Max and Adrienne! Their identities linked together and woven into a
fresh tissue of mystery and innuendo!

Diana smiled a little at the suggestion that Max might be the son of a
royal duke. It was so very far-fetched--fantastic in the extreme.

And then, all at once, she remembered Olga's significant query of long
ago: "_Have you ever asked him who he is?_" and Max's stern refusal to
answer the question when she had put it to him.

At the time it had only given an additional twist to the threads of the
intolerable web of mystery which had enmeshed her married life. But now
it suddenly blazed out like a beacon illumining the dark places.
Supposing it were true--supposing Max _had_ been masquerading under
another name all the time--then this suggestive little paragraph
contained a clue from which she might perhaps unravel the whole hateful
mystery.

Her brows drew together as she puzzled over the matter. This history of
a morganatic marriage--it held a faint ring of familiarity. Vaguely she
recollected having heard the story of some royal duke who had married an
Englishwoman many years ago.

For a few minutes she racked her brain, unable to place the incident.
Then, her eyes falling absently upon the newspaper once more, the last
word of the paragraph suddenly unlocked the rusty door of memory.

_Ruvania_! She remembered the story now! There had once been a younger
brother and heir of a reigning grand-duke of Ruvania who had fallen so
headlong in love with a beautiful Englishwoman that he had renounced his
royal state and his claims to the grand ducal throne, and had married the
lady of his choice, thereafter living the life of a simple country
gentleman.

The affair had taken place a good many years prior to Diana's entry into
life, but at the time it had made such a romantic appeal to the
sentimental heart of the world at large that it had never been quite
forgotten, and had been retold in Diana's hearing on more than one
occasion.

Indeed, she recollected having once seen a newspaper containing an early
portrait of a family group composed of Duke Boris and his morganatic wife
and children. There had been two of the latter, a boy and a girl, and
Diana suddenly realised, with an irre