t of his
sufferings in the pursuit which seemed to end so suitably to-day.

"Madam," he said with his grandest air, "I think to have given you some
proof of my devotion. Even on this inclement day I come to pay my duty
though the streets are deep in snow."

"Oh, sir," exclaimed Clementina, "then your feet are wet. Never run such
risks for me. I would have no man weep on my account though it were only
from a cold in the head."

The Prince glanced at Clementina suspiciously. Was this devotion? He
preferred to think so.

"Madam, have no fears," said he, tenderly, wishing to set the anxious
creature at her ease. "I drove here in my carriage."

"But from the carriage to the door you walked?"

"No, madam, I was carried."

Clementina's lips twitched again.

"I would have given much to have seen you carried," she said demurely.
"I suppose you would not repeat the--No, it would be to ask too much.
Besides, from my windows here in the side of the house I could not see."
And she sighed deeply.

The fatuous gentleman took comfort from the sigh.

"Madam, you have but to say the word and your windows shall look
whichever way you will."

Clementina, however, did not say the word. She merely sighed again. The
Prince thought it a convenient moment to assert his position.

"I have stayed a long while in Innspruck, setting my constancy, which
bade me stay, above my dignity, which bade me go. For three months I
have stayed,--a long while, madam."

"I do not think three years could have been longer," said Clementina,
with the utmost sympathy.

"So now in the end I have called my pride to help me."

"The noblest gift that heaven has given a man," said Clementina,
fervently.

The Prince bowed low; Clementina curtsied majestically.

[Illustration: THE PRINCE STRUTTED TO THE WINDOW; CLEMENTINA SOLEMNLY
KEPT PACE WITH HIM."--_Page 161._]

"Will you give me your hand," said he, "as far as your window?"

"Certainly, sir, and out of it."

Clementina laid her hand in his. The Prince strutted to the window;
Clementina solemnly kept pace with him.

"What do you see? A sentinel fixed there guarding you. At the door
stands a second sentinel. Answer me as I would be answered, your window
and your door are free. Refuse me, and I travel into Italy. My trunks
are already packed."

"Neatly packed, I hope," said Clementina. Her cheek was flushed; her
lips no longer smiled. But she spoke most politely, and the Prince was
at a loss