--that should
keep him away from all companions? Every day he goes away alone. And I
have seen him almost every night, coming back to the hotel, only to
disappear in his rooms, where he must spend many lonely hours."

"Really, Daisy, you are much too interested in this Verdayne. When I
was a girl, I never should have paid such close attention to the
humour of a strange man. Don't you think that you are becoming
altogether too attracted by this Englishman?"

Mrs. Livingstone was an old-fashioned mother who was little in
sympathy with the free and easy point of view of radical latter-day
Americans.

"Not at all, mother. I find something to interest me in all the people
here. Sir Paul is merely a distinct type, just as that awful fat
American with the automobile is another in his own way, and that
horrid French creature who goes motoring with him every day."

"Then there is the beautiful dark-haired foreign lady, too--she is
more fascinating to study than all the rest. She must be a Russian
from her colouring, and, besides, she wears those wonderful
embroideries. And her servants, too, talk some outlandish gibberish
among themselves. Of course she belongs to the nobility, you can see
that, even in the way she walks."

"Really, mother, while I'm a true enough American not to be dazzled by
the glamour of a coronet, there is something in a long line of
well-bred ancestry. You know the old saying, 'Blood will tell.' I've
woven quite a fairy story about those wonderful eyes of hers. She is
the princess in the fairy story whom some fine prince will find and
wake up with a kiss. I wonder--perhaps my Englishman--"

She paused, quite carried away by her own fancy.

"Ah! there she is--my fairy princess--now, down there!" and the girl
indicated a rustic seat beneath a spreading cedar some distance below
them. As Daisy chattered on, she and her mother had drawn close to the
edge of the terrace. And there in the gathering dusk, looking out over
the lake, sat the pale-faced lady with the dark hair and the glorious
eyes.

As the two Americans stood gazing down the declivity, a small boat cut
across their line of vision and came up to the slip with a sweep which
only the expert oarsman can achieve.

"The Englishman--Sir Paul!" exclaimed the girl. "You'll see him soon
coming up the path that passes close to the big cedar."

And even as she spoke, the figure that jumped from the skiff started
up the narrow trail. The lady, too,