thought within my grasp. The signal fire is now dead and cold on
Mount Hope's lofty summit, but another flame as bright and fierce,
which you yourself kindled, will continue to blaze in my heart
while life endures. I know that you are forever lost to me, I know
that another will call you wife, yet night and day I am haunted by
the memory of that mad afternoon on the sun-kissed sands when,
almost crazed with passion, I seized you in my arms to take you
for my own. Then, all at once, came the rude awakening!

But all that is past and gone. I steel my heart to try and forget
what I had won and lost again. I will leave you in peace to enjoy
your new happiness. You will never see or hear from me after I
leave New York. Yet I would like to see you just once more, to
grasp your hand and wish you well. We were always friends, and for
one brief moment we were almost lovers. May I call on Thursday
afternoon?

Yours sincerely,
JOHN ARMITAGE.

Ensconced in the big bay window of the library, comfortably propped up
with cushions, Grace sat gazing pensively over the tree tops of Central
Park. In her hand was Armitage's letter, which she had read and reread a
dozen times until she knew every word by heart. Close by, impatiently
tossed against a chair, was a magnificent floral basket which Prince
Sergius had sent that morning. Attached to the basket by a white ribbon
was an envelope--unopened. The perfume from the flowers scented the
entire room, but Grace seemed to be unconscious of their presence. She
kept looking out of the window as if expecting each instant to see some
one appear on the Avenue. Every now and then she consulted her watch.

"Ten minutes past three!" she murmured. "I wrote that I should expect
him at three. Perhaps he never got my letter."

A look of worry came over her face, and she was straining her eyes in an
effort to distinguish far-away figures on the avenues when the door
opened and her French maid entered. Grace looked up.

"What is it, Louise?" she asked.

"Ze telephone, Mademoiselle. His Royal Highness want to know if you are
at home."

"Did you say I was home?"

"_Mais non_, Mademoiselle. I said I would see if Mademoiselle was in."

Grace left her place by the window and paced nervously up and down the
room.

"Tell His Royal Highness that I'm out," she said. With a gesture of
impatience she added: "Say I've gone ou