olently suggestive
smile, and said he could not think of prolonging his intrusion. On
leaving the room, he noticed Uncle David, waiting as usual to take
care of Jeanne on her return from the theater--looked at him
attentively--bowed, and went out.

The next morning, I received a note from the Baroness, expressed in
these terms:

"More news! My rooms look out on the wing of the palace in which the
Doctor is lodged. Half an hour since, I discovered him at his window,
giving a letter to a person who is a stranger to me. The man left the
palace immediately afterward. My maid followed him, by my directions.
Instead of putting the letter in the post, he took a ticket at the
railway-station--for what place the servant was unable to discover.
Here, you will observe, is a letter important enough to be dispatched
by special messenger, and written at a time when we have succeeded in
freeing ourselves from the Doctor's suspicions. It is at least possible
that he has decided on sending a favorable report of the Princess to the
Grand Duke. If this is the case, please consider whether you will
not act wisely (in her Highness's interests) by keeping away from the
concert."

Viewing this suggestion as another act of impertinence on the part of
the Baroness, I persisted in my intention of going to the concert. It
was for the Princess to decide what course of conduct I was bound to
follow. What did I care for the Doctor's report to the Duke! Shall I own
my folly? I do really believe I was jealous of the Duke.

VIII.

ENTERING the Concert Room, I found the Princess alone on the dais,
receiving the company. "Nervous prostration" had made it impossible for
the Prince to be present. He was confined to his bed-chamber; and the
Doctor was in attendance on him.

I bowed to the Baroness, but she was too seriously offended with me for
declining to take her advice to notice my salutation. Passing into
the conservatory, it occurred to me that I might be seen, and possibly
suspected, in the interval between the first and second parts of the
programme, when the music no longer absorbed the attention of the
audience. I went on, and waited outside on the steps that led to the
garden; keeping the glass door open, so as to hear when the music of the
second part of the concert began.

After an interval which seemed to be endless, I saw the Princess
approaching me.

She had made the heat in the Concert Room an excuse for retiring for
a while; an