uth again. When first I saw you I was
surprised, for, somehow, though I had never seen you nor even heard of
you, I seemed to know your face. Sit where you are, dear. It is only
Rupert--and we both love him."

Teuta looked at me, flushing rosily; but she sat quiet, and drew the old
lady's white head on her young breast.

JANET MACKELPIE'S NOTES.

_July_ 8, 1907.

I used to think that whenever Rupert should get married or start on the
way to it by getting engaged--I would meet his future wife with something
of the same affection that I have always had for himself. But I know now
that what was really in my mind was _jealousy_, and that I was really
fighting against my own instincts, and pretending to myself that I was
not jealous. Had I ever had the faintest idea that she would be anything
the least like Teuta, that sort of feeling should never have had even a
foothold. No wonder my dear boy is in love with her, for, truth to tell,
I am in love with her myself. I don't think I ever met a creature--a
woman creature, of course, I mean--with so many splendid qualities. I
almost fear to say it, lest it should seem to myself wrong; but I think
she is as good as a woman as Rupert is as a man. And what more than that
can I say? I thought I loved her and trusted her, and knew her all I
could, until this morning.

I was in my own room, as it is still called. For, though Rupert tells me
in confidence that under his uncle's will the whole estate of Vissarion,
Castle and all, really belongs to the Voivode, and though the Voivode has
been persuaded to accept the position, he (the Voivode) will not allow
anything to be changed. He will not even hear a word of my going, or
changing my room, or anything. And Rupert backs him up in it, and Teuta
too. So what am I to do but let the dears have their way?

Well, this morning, when Rupert was with the Voivode at a meeting of the
National Council in the Great Hall, Teuta came to me, and (after closing
the door and bolting it, which surprised me a little) came and knelt down
beside me, and put her face in my lap. I stroked her beautiful black
hair, and said:

"What is it, Teuta darling? Is there any trouble? And why did you bolt
the door? Has anything happened to Rupert?" When she looked up I saw
that her beautiful black eyes, with the stars in them, were overflowing
with tears not yet shed. But she smil