our frequent
companions being Father Bernard Osborne, the Catholic nephew by marriage
of Mr. Froude the historian, and son of Rev. Lord Sidney Godolphus
Osborne, then the most stalwart choregus of ultraevangelical
Protestantism. Another frequent companion was Miss Charlotte Dempster,
famous as a writer of novels--especially of one, _Blue Roses_, the scene
of which was, oddly enough, Cockington. Miss Dempster, whose mere
presence was a monument to her own celebrity, was much given to the
cultivation of royalties, and which was to bring to her villa the
presence of a reigning sovereign. So important did she deem the occasion
that, before the potentate was due, she got together the ladies whom she
had honored with an invitation to meet him, and instructed them as to
how, in his august presence, they should demean themselves. The
instructions had been given, and had been followed by an expectant hush,
when sounds in the hall were heard like those of the Second Advent.
"Now, ladies," said Miss Dempster, solemnly, "rise." The ladies rose
like one man, the portals were thrown open, and a loud voice announced a
shy little pink Welshman, Mr. Hugh Price Jones, who had innocently
looked in for the purpose of a familiar call.

My original intention, when I joined my friends at Cannes, had been to
remain on the Riviera till April, and then go back to England, but I
received one morning a letter which suggested a project of a more
adventurous kind, the thought of which stirred me as much as my last
year's voyage to Cyprus, though it would not geographically take me to
any such remote distance.

This came about as follows. Among the country houses of England with
which I became familiar soon after leaving Oxford was Eaglehurst,
situated on the Solent and immediately facing Cowes. It was then
occupied by Count and Countess Edmund Batthyany, subsequently Prince
and Princess. The countess, who had seen much of the diplomatic life of
Europe, was a shrewd, kindly, and a most agreeable woman, who spoke
English like a native. Her husband, who had been educated at Eton, was
English in all his tastes and at Cowes he was an illustrious character,
on account of the many victories of his racing yacht _Kriemhilda_. From
the Cowes Week till the middle of September he kept open house at
Eaglehurst, where for ten days or a fortnight I had many times been his
guest. All kinds and degrees of ornamental and agreeable people, from
archdukes downward, f