they had been twenty minutes of tragedy. We were all, I think,
in different ways affected. Monsieur Feurgeres alone sat back in his
seat like a carved image, his face white and haggard, his deep-set eyes
fixed upon vacancy. We felt that he had passed wholly away from the
world of present things. He himself was lingering amongst the shadows of
that wonderful past, upon which he had only a moment before dropped the
curtain. He had told us to ask him questions, but I for my part felt
that questions just then were a sacrilege. Arthur, however, seemed to
feel nothing of this. It was he who took the lead.

"Isobel, then," he said, "is the granddaughter of the King of
Waldenburg, the only child of his eldest daughter! Her mother was
divorced from her husband, Prince of Herrshoff, and afterwards married
to you. What about her father?"

"He died two years after the divorce was granted," Feurgeres said
without turning his head. "Isobel was hurried away from the Court
through the influence of her aunt, the Archduchess of Bristlaw, and sent
to a convent in France. It was not intended that she should ever
reappear at the Court of Waldenburg."

"Why not?"

"The King is very old, and he is the richest man in Europe. Isobel is
the daughter of his eldest and favourite child. The Archduchess also has
a daughter, and, failing Isobel, she will inherit."

"Has the King," I asked, "taken any steps to discover Isobel?"

"He has been told that she is dead," Feurgeres answered.

We were all silent then for several minutes. The things which we had
heard were strange enough, but they let in a flood of light upon all the
events of the last few months. It was Feurgeres himself who broke in
upon our thoughts.

"Gentlemen," he said, "there is another thing which I must tell you."

His voice was very low but firm. He had turned in his chair, and was
facing us all. His eyes were no longer vacant. He spoke as one speaks of
sacred things.

"All Europe," he said, "was pleased to discuss what was called the
elopement of the Princess Isobel with Feurgeres the player. The
gutter-press of the world filled their columns with sensational and
scandalous lies. We at no time made any reply. There was no need. If now
I break the silence of years it is that Isobel shall know the truth. It
is you, Mr. Greatson, who will tell her this, and many other things.
Listen carefully to what I say. The husband of the Princess Isobel was a
blackguard, a man unfit f