other; and so the sky was now roseate
unto its zenith, reflecting the glory of these miracles. I followed the
look of her eyes and saw, high against the red, a lone crane flying
majestically homeward to the seclusion of his swamp; and it typified my
own belated heart that, without questioning the whence or why,
unerringly obeyed a silent voice which called it to another sanctuary.

I wanted to tell her this, but dared not. And so we stood, spellbound,
while the night brought out the blue--and the young moon changed from
red to silver--and the stars came down to take their places. Then slowly
we passed on and sat by the fort, leaning our backs against it; in
meditation looking across the prairie that had become so changed a place
to us.

The night grew sweet with the purity of untouched wilderness as,
shoulder to shoulder, we sat talking in low tones of Smilax and
Echochee. She had wondered about them no few times that day, and now I,
too, felt some concern. Yet the Everglades lay far eastward and, for any
reason giving up Big Cove, I knew he would plunge as deeply into it as
his pursuers dared follow. To-morrow would be time enough to worry, I
assured her, so we talked about Monsieur, the Azurian throne, and--I
could not help it--of another Chancellor who would build her kitchen
fires. But I tried to keep all bitterness from my words. In the vague
light I could see that her face was serious, and very tender. Then for a
time we sat without speaking.

Perhaps it was the place, the charm; perhaps a magic was working
stronger than I knew; but words came to my lips that I stubbornly
refused to speak. I fought against them; they, too, fought with grim
insistence; so as a compromise, looking straight ahead and pretending to
jest even while I accused, I said:

"You've been listening!"

"Listening?" Her eyes opened prettily, alert as they always were to
parry banter with banter.

"Yes, listening--at the keyhole like a common gossip. A nice pastime for
a Princess, surely!"

"At the--keyhole?" She was proceeding warily now; her mind, as in a game
of hide-and-seek, was on tiptoe, in expectation of discovering me at
every step.

"Yes," I repeated. "And you heard my heart admitting that it's
happy--to've found something it was hungry for."

For the briefest instant I thought a tremor ran through her shoulder, as
if a little chilly sensation had rippled her nerves. But it was a silly
idea, because she lightly replied:

"