g."

"Go on," muttered Tony, as the other seemed to pause for a sentiment of
concurrence.

"I was in the Household in those days, and I was sent down with old
Dollington to Dover to meet them; but somehow they arrived before we
got down, and were comfortably installed at the 'Lord Warden' when
we arrived. It did not matter much; for old Cohari was seized with an
attack of gout, and could not stir; and there I was, running back and
forward to the telegraph office all day, reporting how he was, and
whether he would or would not have Sir James This or Sir John That down
to see him! Dollington and he were old friends, fortunately, and had a
deal to say to each other, so that I was constantly with Olga. At first
she was supremely haughty and distant, as you may imagine; a regular
Austrian Serene Highness grafted on a beauty,--fancy that! but it never
deterred _me_; and I contrived that she should see mine was the homage
of a heart she had captivated, not of a courtier that was bound to obey
her. She saw it, sir,--saw it at once; saw it with that instinct that
whispers to the female heart, 'He loves me,' ere the man has ever said
it to himself. She not only saw, but she did not discourage, my passion.
Twenty little incidents of our daily life showed this, as we rambled
across the downs together, or strolled along the shore to watch the
setting sun and the arrival of the mail-boat from Calais.

"At last the Prince recovered sufficiently to continue his journey, and
I went down to order a special train to take us up to town the following
morning. By some stupid arrangement, however, of the directors, an
earlier announcement should have been given, and all they could do was
to let us have one of the royal carriages attached to the express. I was
vexed at this, and so was Dollington, but the Prince did not care, in
the least; and when I went to speak of it to Olga, she hung down her
head for an instant, and then, in a voice and with an accent I shall
never forget, she said, 'Ah, Monsieur Darner, it would appear to be your
destiny to be always too late!' She left me as she spoke, and we never
met after; for on that same evening I learned from Dollington she was
betrothed to the Duke Max of Hohenhammelsbraten, and to be married in
a month. That was the meaning of her emotion,--that was the source of a
sorrow that all but overcame her; for she loved me, Tony,--she loved me!
not with that headlong devotion that belongs to the wanne