ve me--well, say two hundred dollars, and I'll have the purser
change it."

She went to her suitcase, where it stood on the lounge; he unstrapped
it for her; she found the big packet of treasury notes and handed them
to him.

"Good heavens!" he muttered. "This won't do. I'm going to have the
purser lock them in the safe and give me a receipt. Then when you meet
the Princess Mistchenka, tell her what I've done and ask her advice.
Will you, Rue?"

"Yes, thank you."

"You'll wait here for me, won't you?"

"Yes."

So he noted the door number and went away hastily in search of the
purser, to do what he could in the matter of foreign money for the
girl. And on the upper companionway he met the Princess Mistchenka
descending, preceded by porters with her luggage.

"James!" she exclaimed. "Have you come aboard to elope with me?
Otherwise, what are you doing on the _Lusitania_ at this very ghastly
hour in the morning?"

She was smiling into his face and her daintily gloved hand retained
his for a moment; then she passed her arm through his.

"Follow the porter," she said, "and tell me what brings you here, my
gay young friend. You see I am wearing the orchids you sent me. Do you
really mean to add yourself to this charming gift?"

He told her the story of Ruhannah Carew as briefly as he could; at her
stateroom door they paused while he continued the story, the Princess
Mistchenka looking at him very intently while she listened, and never
uttering a word.

She was a pretty woman, not tall, rather below middle stature,
perhaps, beautifully proportioned and perfectly gowned. Hair and eyes
were dark as velvet; her skin was old ivory and rose; and always her
lips seemed about to part a little in the faint and provocative smile
which lay latent in the depths of her brown eyes.

"_Mon Dieu!_" she said, "what a history of woe you are telling me, my
friend James! What a tale of innocence and of deception and outraged
trust is this that you relate to me! _Allons! Vite!_ Let us find this
poor, abandoned infant--this unhappy victim of your sex's well-known
duplicity!"

"She isn't a victim, you know," he explained.

"I see. Only almost--a--victim. Yes? Where is this child, then?"

"May I bring her to you, Princess?"

"But of course! Bring her. I am not afraid--so far--to look any woman
in the face at five o'clock in the morning." And the threatened smile
flashed out in her fresh, pretty face.

*