me through the hall, so that I can say good-bye to every
one else. Is the Princess Eiderstrom there?"

"I am afraid that she has gone to bed," Dominey answered, as they passed
out of the room. "She said something about a headache."

"She is very beautiful," Rosamund said wistfully. "I wish she looked as
though she liked me a little more. Is she very fond of you, Everard?"

"I think that I am rather in her bad books just at present," Dominey
confessed.

"I wonder! I am very observant, and I have seen her looking at you
sometimes--Of course," Rosamund went on, "as I am not really your wife
and you are not really my husband, it is very stupid of me to feel
jealous, isn't it, Everard?"

"Not a bit," he answered. "If I am not your husband, I will not be
anybody else's."

"I love you to say that," she admitted, with a little sigh, "but it
seems wrong somewhere. Look how cross the Duchess looks! Some one must
have played the wrong card."

Rosamund's farewells were not easily made; Terniloff especially seemed
reluctant to let her go. She excused herself gracefully, however,
promising to sit up a little later the next evening. Dominey led the way
upstairs, curiously gratified at her lingering progress. He took her
to the door of her room and looked in. The nurse was sitting in an
easy-chair, reading, and the maid was sewing in the background.

"Well, you look very comfortable here," he declared cheerfully. "Pray do
not move, nurse."

Rosamund held his hands, as though reluctant to let him go. Then she
drew his face down and kissed him.

"Yes," she said a little plaintively, "it's very comfortable.--Everard?"

"Yes, dear?"

She drew his head down and whispered in his ear.

"May I come in and say good night for two minutes?"

He smiled--a wonderfully kind smile--but shook his head.

"Not to-night, dear," he replied. "The Prince loves to sit up late, and
I shall be downstairs with him. Besides, that bully of a doctor of yours
insists upon ten hours' sleep."

She sighed like a disappointed child.

"Very well." She paused for a moment to listen. "Wasn't that a car?" she
asked.

"Some of our guests going early, I dare say," he replied, as he turned
away.

CHAPTER XXIII

Seaman did not at once start on his mission to the Princess. He made
his way instead to the servants' quarters and knocked at the door of the
butler's sitting-room. There was no reply. He tried the handle in vain.
The door was locked. A