ck I was conducted through the great marble hall of the
villa, one of the finest residences on the outskirts of Florence, and
into the beautiful salon, upholstered in pale-green silk, where my
pretty companion of that exciting run on the Great North Road rose to
greet me with eager, outstretched hand; while behind her stood a tall,
white-headed, military-looking man, whom she introduced as her father,
General Stefanovitch.

"I asked you here for seven," she said, with a sweet smile; "but we do
not dine until eight, therefore we may talk. How fortunate we should
meet to-day! I intended to write to you."

I gathered from her subsequent conversation that we might speak frankly
before her father, therefore I described to her the exciting adventure
that had happened to me in Eccleston Street, whereupon she said--

"Ah! it is only to-day that I am able to reveal to you the truth,
relying upon you not to make it public. The secret of the Latours must
still be strictly kept, at all hazards."

"What was their secret?" I inquired breathlessly.

"Listen, and I will tell you," she said, motioning me to a seat and
sinking into a low lounge-chair herself, while the General stood astride
upon the bear-skin stretched before the English fire-grate. "Those men
sought the life of one person only--the boy. They went to England to
kill him."

"And would have done so, Clotilde, had you not saved him," declared her
father.

"It was not I," she said quickly. "It was Mr. Ewart, who snatched us
from them. They were following, and we both should have shared the fate
of the Latours had he not taken us up and driven us away. The thanks of
the State are due to Mr. Ewart." And at that moment the little lad
entered shyly, and, walking towards her, took her hand.

"The State--what do you mean?" I asked, puzzled.

"The truth is this," she said, smiling. "Little Paul, here, lived in
England incognito as Paul Latour, but he is really His Royal Highness
the Crown Prince Paul of Bosnia, heir to the throne. Because there was a
conspiracy in the capital to kill him, he was sent to England in secret
in the care of his tutor and his wife, who took the name of Latour,
while he passed as their son. The revolutionists had sworn to kill the
King's son, and by some means discovered his whereabouts in England;
whereupon four of them were chosen to go there and assassinate him. By
good fortune I learnt the truth, and as maid-of-honour to the Queen
resolved