nds, and made no effort to control her grief.

When she recovered composure, her self-reproaches were bitter for
allowing so many years to go by without a visit to this devoted parent.
Smiling as she dried her eyes,--the eyes with the drooping corners, old
friends to Elinor,--she said: "You, also, had me for a guest all this
time."

"No, for a hostess. It is your house."

"And where do _you_ sit?"

"Here, where I am."

"Then I have been your _vis-a-vis_?"

"Yes."

The Princess smiled. "Well, my face must be terribly familiar to you.
Perhaps you recognized me at first?"

"Yes; I supposed you must be his daughter. But we believed the portrait
to be your mother."

"How amusing! But poor mamma! there is no portrait of her here. She came
away in too much of a hurry to stop for trifles."

She studied the miniature in silence, then, leaning back in her chair:

"_Mais, voyons!_ I was telling something."

"About your father--why he came here."

"Ah, yes! Well, for a man to marry, or try to marry--or to dream of
marrying--a princess formally betrothed to a king was _quelque chose
d'inouie_. But he was badly brought up, this little father of mine:
always having his own way,--_un enfant gate_,--you know, a child
made worse--a child damaged--hurt--what am I trying to say?"

"A spoiled child."

"Of course! But the King also was a spoiled child, which is to be
expected in a king. However, that did not smooth things for my little
father, as the King was beside himself with rage--furious, wild!"

"He was jealous?"

The Princess laughed--more of a triumphant chuckle than a laugh. "And
well he had reason!"

"Then the lady preferred your father to the King?"

"_Mon Dieu!_ She had eyes." Then, with a slight motion of a hand:
"And she had sense."

Elinor smiled. "But a king is a great catch."

The little lady shrugged her shoulders. "That made nothing to her. She
was as good as the King. She was a _grande_ princess. Not an
every-day princess, like me."

"Are _you_ a princess?" Elinor asked in surprise.

"Yes, an ordinary princess--the common, every-day kind. But _she_
was a _princesse royale_. And so he did this." With a comprehensive
gesture of both her hands she indicated the tapestries, paintings,
busts, furniture, and the entire contents of the house.

"You mean he brought his own possessions off here, across the water?"

"Precisely."

"And did he bring the Princess with him?"

"What a question! It is