very one would have been as kind
to a girl just out of boarding-school as they have been to me if it
were not that I have so much money?"

"I cannot tell about others," Lord Ronald answered. "I can only answer
for myself."

His last words were almost whispered in the girl's ears, but she only
shrugged her shoulders and did not return his gaze. Their host, who had
been watching them, frowned slightly. He was beginning to think that
Engleton was scarcely as pleasant a fellow as he had thought him.

"Well," he said, "Miss Le Mesurier will find out in time who are really
her friends."

"It is a safe plan," Major Forrest remarked, "and a pleasant one, to
believe in everybody until they want something from you. Then is the
time for distrust."

Jeanne sighed.

"And by that time, perhaps," she said, "one's affections are hopelessly
engaged. I think that it is a very difficult world."

The Princess shrugged her shoulders.

"Three months," she remarked, "is not a long time. Wait, my dear child,
until you have at least lived through a single season before you commit
yourself to any final opinions."

Their host intervened. He was beginning to find the conversation dull.
He was far more interested in another matter.

"Let us talk about that visit," he said to the Princess. "I do wish
that you could make up your mind to come. Of course, I haven't any
amusements to offer you, but you could rest as thoroughly as you like.
They say that the air is the finest in England. There is always bridge,
you know, for the evenings, and if Miss Jeanne likes bathing, my
gardens go down to the beach."

"It sounds delightful," the Princess said, "and exactly what we want.
We have a good many invitations, but I have not cared to accept any of
them, for I do not think that Jeanne would care much for the life at an
ordinary country house. I myself," she continued, with perfect truth,
"am not squeamish, but the last house-party I was at was certainly not
the place for a very young girl."

"Make up your mind, then, and say yes," Cecil de la Borne pleaded.

"You shall hear from us within the next few days," the Princess
answered. "I really believe that we shall come."

The little party left the restaurant a few minutes later on their way
into the foyer for coffee. The Princess contrived to pass out with
Forrest as her companion.

"I think," she said under her breath, "that this is the best
opportunity you could possibly have. We shall be