amed her brow, I was moved, yes, positively
carried away for a moment, by a sentiment such as few women have been
able to inspire in me.

Perceiving, no doubt, that she had produced the desired impression,
the Princess ran lightly down the stairs and came toward me holding
out two tiny hands, the fingers of which were literally gloved in
diamonds.

"My friend! My noble Englishman!" she exclaimed in the purest French.
"And since when have you known that dear Monsieur Place?"

I checked myself on the point of replying, pretended to falter, and
then muttered in the worst French I could devise on the spur of the
moment:

"_Parlez-vous Anglais, s'il vous plait, Madame?_"

The Princess shook her head reproachfully.

"You speak French too well not to understand it, I suspect," she
retorted in the same language. Then dropping it for English, marred
only by a slight Slavonic accent, she repeated:

"But tell me,--dear Mr. Place, he is a great friend of yours, I
suppose?"

"I can hardly claim the honor of his personal friendship," I replied,
rather lamely. "But I have always known and admired him as a public
man."

"Ah! He is so good, is he not? So generous, so confiding, so great a
friend of our dear Russia. You know Mr. ----?"

The name she uttered was that of the politician referred to above.
She slipped it out swiftly, with the action of a cat pouncing.

I shook my head with an air of distress.

"I am afraid I am not important enough to know such a great man as
that," I said with affected humility.

The Princess hastened to relieve my embarrassment.

"What is that to us!" she exclaimed. "You are an Englishman, you are
benevolent, upright, truthful, and you esteem our country. Such men
are always welcome in Russia. The Czaritza is waiting for me; but you
will come back and dine with me, if not to-night, then to-morrow, or
the next day. I will send an invitation to your hotel. My friends
shall call on you. You are staying at the----?"

I mentioned the name of the hotel, murmuring my thanks.

"That is nothing," the beautiful woman went on in the same eager
strain. "I shall have good news for you when we meet again, believe
me. Yes--" she lowered her voice almost to a whisper--"our dear Czar
is going to take the negotiations into his own hands. So it is said.
His majesty is determined to preserve peace. The odious intrigues of
the War group will be defeated, I can assure you. You will not be
disappointed, my