t to dinner and won't be back
until late. _Vous comprenez?_"

The girl curtsied.

"_Mais oui_, Mademoiselle."

She was leaving the room when Grace called her back.

"Take these flowers away, too. Their strong perfume makes me nervous."

"_Tres bien_, Mademoiselle."

Elevating her eyebrows as if to convey that she quite understood the
situation, the maid took up the floral-basket and disappeared.

Grace resumed her vigil at the window, watching eagerly every one who
came in sight along the avenue, wondering if each newcomer was the one
man who was in her thoughts.

She was annoyed with herself for having betrayed herself before the
servant. Yet surely they could all see that she detested the Prince, and
that she was only marrying him for his lofty position. It had been the
ambition of her life, her father approved it, her friends envied her,
the papers were full of the splendors of the wonderful Eurasian palace
of which she would one day be mistress. How could she resist? Yet how
they must all despise her for selling herself!

Once more she took up Armitage's letter and read it through. She
wondered why he was leaving America and what the change for the better
of which he spoke could be. No doubt he had been successful in securing
more congenial employment. She was sincerely glad to hear it. She would
remember him always.

She wondered why life was so contrary, so cruel. The one man she could
have loved truly, sincerely, was too poor for her to marry, too far
beneath her in the social scale. Suppose she braved everything for his
sake, what then? It would break her father's heart. All her friends
would laugh at her. The world would ostracise her. No--it was an
impossible dream. She owed something to her position. Her own happiness
must be sacrificed to please others. Angry, defiant yet powerless to
resist the laws of the society she moved in, she rebelled at the
injustice and cruelty of it.

Suddenly the bell at the front door rang. She heard voices, followed by
steps on the stairs. A footman appeared on the library threshold.

"Mr. Armitage has called to see Miss Harmon."

Grace advanced, nervous.

"Ask Mr. Armitage to come up."

The servant withdrew, and Grace crossed hastily to the mirror to see if
everything about herself was as she wanted him to see it. A moment later
she heard some one enter the room behind her. It was Armitage. She
turned and greeted him with a smile, extending her hand, which fo