actly what she had expected. But
he qualified it the next moment with careless generosity.

"Quite a presentable cavalier, _ma Juliette_! And a fixed occupation is
something of an advantage at times, _n'est-ce-pas?--Je t'aime, tu
l'aime_! And how soon do you ride away? Or is that question premature?"

Juliet's face burned in the dimness, but she was in front of him and
thankfully aware that he could not see it. "I am not answering any more
questions, Charles," she said. "Now that you have got me into your
ogre's castle, you must be--kind."

"I will be kindness itself," he assured her. "You know I am the soul of
hospitality. All I have is yours."

The narrow stair ended at a small stone landing on which was a door.
Juliet stepped aside as she reached it, and waited for her host. "It's
rather like a prison," she said.

"You won't think so when you get through that door," he said. "By Jove!
To think that I've actually got you--you of all people!--here in my
stronghold! Do you realize that without my permission you can't possibly
get out again?"

Juliet's laugh was absolutely spontaneous. She faced him in that narrow
space with the poise and confidence of a queen. The light from a window
that pierced the wall above shone down upon her. In that moment she was
endowed with an extraordinary beauty that was more of being, of
personality, than of feature.

"It is exactly this that I have played for, Charles Rex," she said. "You
hold all the cards, _mon ami_. But--the game is mine."

"How so?" He was looking at her curiously, a dancing demon in his eyes.

She put out her hand to him, and as he took it, sank to the stone floor
in a superb curtsy. "Because I claim your gracious protection, my lord
the king. I ask your royal favour."

He lifted her hand to his lips as she rose. "You are--as ever--quite
irresistible, _ma Juliette_," he smiled. "But--do you really contemplate
marrying this fortunate young man? Because there are limits--even to my
generosity. I am not sure that I can permit that."

Her eyes looked straight into his. "You can do--anything you choose to
do, Charles Rex," she said; "except one thing."

He made a grimace at her. "I am king in my own castle anyway," he
observed, watching her. "And you are at my mercy."

"It is your mercy that I am waiting for," she said, a faint smile at the
corners of her lips.

"Ah!" he said, stood a moment longer, contemplating her, then turned
abruptly and flung open th