Duke, however, was
insistent. He waited twenty minutes in a small back morning-room and
presently Jeanne came in to him.

He held out his hands.

"Little girl," he said, "you know what you promised. I am afraid that
you have forgotten."

She smiled pitifully.

"No," she said, "I have not forgotten. I went away alone because I had
to go, because I wanted to be quite alone and quite quiet. Now I have
come home, and there is no one who can help me at all."

"Rubbish!" he answered. "There was never trouble in the world where a
friend couldn't help. What is it now?"

She shook her head.

"I cannot tell you," she said, "only I am going to marry the Count de
Brensault."

"I'm hanged if you are!" the Duke declared vigorously. "Look here, Miss
Jeanne. This is your stepmother's doing. I know all about it. Don't you
believe that in this country you are obliged to marry any one whom you
don't want to."

"But I do want to," Jeanne answered, "or rather I don't mind whom I do
marry, or whether I marry any one or no one."

The Duke was grave.

"I thought," he said, "that my friend Andrew had a chance."

Her face was suddenly burning.

"Mr. Andrew," she said, "does not want me; I mean that it is
impossible. Oh, if you please," she added, bursting into tears, "won't
you let me alone? I am going to marry the Count de Brensault. I have
quite made up my mind. Perhaps you have not heard that it is all a
mistake about my having a great fortune. The Count de Brensault is very
kind, and he is going to marry me although I have no money."

The Duke stared at her for several moments. Then he rang the bell.

"Will you tell your mistress," he said to the servant, "that the Duke
of Westerham would be exceedingly obliged if she would spare him five
minutes here and now."

The man bowed and withdrew. The Princess came almost at once.

"Madam," the Duke said, "I trust that you will forgive my sending for
you, but I am very much interested in the happiness of our little
friend Miss Jeanne here. She tells me that she is going to marry the
Count de Brensault, that she has lost her fortune and she is evidently
very unhappy. Will you forgive me if I ask you whether this marriage is
being forced upon her?"

The Princess hesitated.

"No," she said, "it is not that. Jeanne told him of her loss of
fortune. She told him, too, without any prompting from me, that she
would marry him if he still wished it. That is all that I know."

The