y right to do so.

"All shall be as you say, now that I have the happiness of seeing you
sitting opposite me, but don't be surprised if I show a most
unappreciative appetite."

"What is the matter?" she asked breathlessly. "You certainly look very
ill."

"I have been drugged and robbed," he replied, lowering his voice. "I
imagine I came to close quarters with death itself. I have spent a night
in Hades, and this morning am barely able to stagger; but the sight of
you, Princess--Ah, well, I feel once more that I belong to the land of
the living!"

"Please do not call me Princess," said the girl, looking down at the
tablecloth.

"Then what am I to call you, Princess?"

"My name is Jennie Baxter," she said in a low voice.

"_Miss_ Jennie Baxter?" he asked eagerly, with emphasis on the first
word.

"Miss Jennie Baxter," she answered, still not looking up at him.

He leaned back in his chair and said,--

"Well, this is not such a bad world, after all. To think of meeting you
here in Russia! Have you been in St. Petersburg, then?"

"Yes. I am a newspaper woman," explained Jennie hurriedly. "When
you met me before, I was there surreptitiously--fraudulently, if
you like; I was there to--to write a report of it for my paper. I
can never thank you enough, Lord Donal, for your kindness to me that
evening."

"Your thanks are belated," said the young man, with a visible attempt at
gaiety. "You should have written and acknowledged the kindness you are
good enough to say I rendered to you. You knew my address, and etiquette
demanded that you should make your acknowledgments."

"I was reluctant to write," said Jennie, a smile hovering round her
lips, "fearing my letter might act as a clue. I had no wish to interfere
with the legitimate business of Mr. Cadbury Taylor."

"Great heavens!" cried the young man, "how came you to know about that?
But of course the Princess von Steinheimer told you of it. She wrote to
me charging me with all sorts of wickedness for endeavouring to find
you."

"No, Lord Donal, I did not learn it from her. In fact, if you had opened
the door of the inner room at Mr. Cadbury Taylor's a little quicker, you
would have come upon me, for I was the assistant who tried to persuade
him that you really met the Princess von Steinheimer."

Lord Donal, for the first time, laughed heartily.

"Well, if that doesn't beat all! And I suppose Cadbury Taylor hasn't the
slightest suspicion that you are the pe