oom without saying
what he would do. Miss Baxter quickly brought him to a standstill.

"It is contrary to my duty to the Princess," she began, hesitatingly,
when he stopped and turned fiercely upon her.

"What is contrary to your duty?"

"There are letters, tied very daintily with a blue ribbon, and they are
from a man. The Princess did not allow me to read them, but locked them
away in a secret drawer in her dressing-room, but she is so careless
with her keys and everything else, that I am sure I can get them for
you, if you want them."

"Yes, yes, I want them," said the Prince, "and will pay you handsomely
for them."

"Very well," replied Miss Baxter, "you shall have them. If you will wait
here ten minutes, I shall return with them."

"But," hesitated the Prince, "say nothing to the Princess."

"Oh, no, I shall not need to; the keys are sure to be on her
dressing-table."

Miss Baxter ran down to the room of the Princess, and had little
difficulty in obtaining the keys. She unlocked the secret drawer into
which she had seen the Princess place the packet of letters, and taking
them out, she drew another sheet of paper along with them, which she
read with wide-opening eyes, then with her pretty lips pursed, she
actually whistled, which unmaidenly performance merely gave sibilant
expression to her astonishment. Taking both the packet of letters and
the sheet of paper with her, she ran swiftly up the stair and along the
corridor to the room where the Prince was impatiently awaiting her.

"Give them to me," he snapped, rudely snatching the bundle of documents
from her hand. She still clung to the separate piece of paper and said
nothing. The Prince stood by the window and undid the packet with
trembling hands. He examined one and then another of the letters,
turning at last towards the girl with renewed anger in his face.

"You are trifling with me, my girl," he cried.

"No, I am not," she said stoutly.

"These are my own letters, written by me to my wife before we were
married!"

"Of course they are. What others did you expect? These are the only
letters, so far as I have learned, that any man has written to her,
and the only letters she cares for of all the thousands she has ever
received. Why, you foolish, blind man, I had not been in this castle a
day before I saw how matters stood. The Princess is breaking her poor
heart because you are unkind to her, and she cares for nobody on earth
but you, great st