ess had hurried
ostentatiously off to her room, that no nefarious attempts might be made
upon her resolution. She and I stood for a moment hand in hand, in the
dim hall.

"You are mine?" I asked.

"Are you sure you want me?"

"I've been sure of that--too sure for my peace of mind since the first
day I saw your dear face--the loveliest on earth. But I never thought
to have you. I never thought that I would have a right to ask, for I'm
poor--horribly poor."

"Oh, as if that mattered!"

"I know it doesn't now, for this that's happened has given us to each
other. I'll work hard and make money. Nothing can part us--I couldn't
bear it. But it seems too good to be true. Is it possible you care for
me?"

"I think I've cared--ever since the first few days. I'd never guessed
that I would meet a man like you. But oh, I did not mean to marry _any_
man."

"I know, darling. I know what you'd planned. I lay awake nights over it,
wondering if, beggar as I was, I couldn't snatch you from that cold
future. But I shouldn't have thought I had the right if this thunder-bolt
hadn't struck me."

"As Aunt Kathryn--poor Aunt Kathryn!--is always saying, 'It must have
been meant.' I never promised that--that I would join the Sisters, you
know. I suppose this is why my father would have me go abroad when I
came of age. He was afraid I might make up my mind before I had--found
my heart."

"Have you found it now--for sure?"

"No. I--I've _lost_ it."

"Angel! But you've got mine instead. You won't mind marrying a beggar
and being a beggaress?"

The adorable creature laughed. "I shall love it," she said. There was no
one in the hall except Airole, and the shadows were asleep--so I kissed
her: and knew why I had been born. I'd often wondered, but I never will
again.

We had a fierce tussle with the Countess to prevent her stopping in
Montenegro and marrying her Prince there and then, as soon as might be.
The truth was, and she owned it, that she was afraid to face Beechy till
she had been made irrevocably a Princess. But finally we prevailed,
almost by force, and tore the poor lady from her lover, who protested
that he would follow, were it to the world's end. I believed he would,
too, for he had threatened to be the last man in Maida's world; the
Countess was now the last woman in his, and he would hold on to her and
her money as a drowning man grasps at a substantial spar.

I shall never forget that drive down from the mountain l