nes!" she said. "Madame has declared that
henceforth she adjures all intrigue."

A footman took my hat and stick in the hall. Lady Delahaye led me into a
small boudoir leading out of a larger room. She herself only opened the
door and closed it, remaining outside. I was alone with the Archduchess.

She rose slowly to her feet, a very graceful and majestic-looking
person, with a suggestion of Isobel in her thin neck and the pose of her
head. She did not hold out her hand, and she surveyed me very
critically. I ventured to bestow something of the same attention upon
her. She was certainly a very beautiful woman, and her expression by no
means displeasing. She had Isobel's dark blue eyes, and there was a
humorous line about her mouth which astonished me.

"I am not offering you my hand, Mr. Greatson," she said, "because I
presume that until we understand each other better it would be a mere
matter of form. Still, I am glad that you have come to see me."

"I am very glad too, Madame," I answered, "especially if my visit leads
to a cessation of the somewhat remarkable proceedings of the last few
weeks."

The Archduchess smiled.

"Well," she said, "I am forced to admit myself beaten. I have been
ill-served, it is true, but I suppose my methods are antiquated."

"They belong properly," I admitted, "to a few centuries ago."

Madame smiled a little queerly.

"A few centuries ago," she said, "I fancy that if our family history is
true, the affair would have been more simple."

"I can well believe it," I answered.

Madame relapsed into her chair, from which I judged that the preliminary
skirmishing was over.

"You will please to be seated, Mr. Greatson!"

I obeyed.

"I am not going to play the hypocrite with you, sir," she said quietly.
"It is not worth while, is it? The object of the struggle between us has
been, on my part, to keep Isobel and her grandfather apart. You have
doubtless correctly gauged my motive. Isobel's mother was my father's
favourite child. If he had an idea that her child was alive, he would
receive her without a word. She would completely usurp the place of
Adelaide, my own daughter, in his affection--and in his will."

"In his will!" I repeated quietly. "Yes, I understand."

Madame nodded.

"It is quite simple," she said. "For myself I am willing to admit that I
am an ambitious woman. Money for its own sake I take no heed of, but it
remains always one of the great levers of the world, a