understand that
after all the passing life is short, that idle days and physical
pleasures do not make up the life which is worthiest. I am going to try
other things. For the inspiration which bids me seek them, I have to
thank you."

She touched his great brown hand with the delicate tips of her fingers.

"Dear Mr. Andrew," she said, "you are very big and strong and
obstinate. You will have your own way however I may plead. Go, then,
and strike your great blows upon the anvil of life. You say that I am
passing the threshold, that as yet I am ignorant. Very well, I will
make my way in with the throng. I will look about me, and see what this
thing, life, is, and how much more it may mean to me because I chance
to be the possessor of many ill-earned millions. Before very long we
will meet again and compare notes, only I warn you, Mr. Andrew, that if
any change comes, it comes to you. I am one of the outsiders who has
looked into life, and who knows very well what is there even from
across the borders."

He rose at once. To stay there was worse torture than to go.

"So it shall be," he said. "We will each take our draught of
experience, and we will meet again and speak of the flavour of it. Only
remember that whatever may be your lot, hold fast to those simple
things which we have spoken of together, and the darkest days of all
can never come."

She gave him her hand, and flashed a look at him which he was not
likely to forget.

"So!" she said simply. "I shall remember."

CHAPTER III

The Princess was enjoying a few minutes of well-earned repose. She had
lunched with Jeanne at Ranelagh, where they had been the guests of a
lady who certainly had the right to call herself one of the leaders of
Society. The newspapers and the Princess' confidences to a few of her
friends had done all that was really necessary. Jeanne was accepted,
and the Princess passed in her wake through those innermost portals
which at one time had come perilously near being closed upon her. She
was lying on a sofa in a white negligee gown. Jeanne had just brought
in a pile of letters, mostly invitations. The Princess glanced them
through, and smiled as she tossed them on one side.

"How these people amuse one!" she exclaimed. "Eighteen months ago I was
in London alone, and not a soul came near me. To-day, because I am the
guardian of a young lady whom the world believes to be a great heiress,
people tumble over one another with their