tter of curiosity, supposing I am able to hand
you over Jeanne very shortly, would you agree to double the little
amount we have spoken of?"

"I will double it," the Count declared solemnly. "You see when I wish
for a thing I am generous. I can only hope," he added, with a peculiar
smile, "Miss Jeanne may soon make her reappearance." There was a knock
at the door. The Princess looked up, frowning. Her maid put her head
cautiously in.

"I am sorry to disturb you, madam, against your orders," she said, "but
Miss Jeanne has just arrived."

CHAPTER XVIII

The Count opened his mouth. It was his way of expressing supreme
astonishment. The Princess sat bolt upright on her couch and gazed at
Jeanne with wide-open and dilated eyes. Curiously enough it was the
Count who first recovered himself.

"Is it a game, this?" he asked softly. "You press the button and the
little girl appears. That means that I increase the stakes and the
prize pops up."

The Princess rose to her feet. She crossed the room to meet Jeanne with
outstretched arms.

"Shut up, you fool!" she said to the Count in passing. "Jeanne my
child," she added, "is it really you?"

Jeanne accepted the proffered embrace, without enthusiasm. She
recognized the Count, however, with a little wave of colour.

"Yes," she said quietly, "I have come back. I am sorry I went away. It
was a mistake, a great mistake."

"You have driven us nearly wild with anxiety," the Princess declared.
"Where have you been to?"

"Yes!" the Count echoed, fixing his eyes upon her, "where have you been
to?"

Jeanne behaved with a composure which astonished them both. She calmly
unbuttoned her gloves and seated herself in the easy-chair.

"I have been to Salthouse," she said.

"What! back to the Red Hall?" the Princess exclaimed.

Jeanne shook her head.

"No!" she said, "I have been in rooms at a farmhouse there, Caynsard's
farm. I went away because I did not like the life here, and because my
stepmother," she continued, turning toward the Count, "seemed
determined that I should marry you. I thought that I would go away into
the country, somewhere where I could think quietly. I went to Salthouse
because it was the only place I knew."

"You are the maddest child!" the Princess exclaimed.

Jeanne smiled, a little wearily.

"If I have been mad," she said, "I have come to my senses again."

The Count leaned toward her eagerly.

"I trust," he said, "that that means that