ess, jealous of the lady's flashing
smile to Caroline, "my mother says I'm twice the trouble he is!"

The Princess laughed aloud. "You're all trouble enough, I can well
believe," she said carelessly, "though you particular three are
certainly amusing little duds--for an afternoon. But for a steady
diet--I'm afraid I'd get a bit tired of you, eh?"

She tapped their cheeks lightly with a cool, sweet-smelling finger. Miss
Honey smiled uncertainly, but Caroline edged away. There was something
about this beautiful tall lady she could not understand, something that
alternately attracted and repelled. She was grown up, certainly; her
skirts, her size, and her coiled hair proved that conclusively, and the
servants obeyed her without question. But what was it? She was not like
other grown-up people one knew. One moment she sparkled at you and the
next moment she forgot you. It was perfectly obvious that she wanted the
General only because Delia had not wanted to relinquish him, which was
not like grown people; it was like--yes, that was it: she was like a
little girl, herself, even though she was so tall and had such large red
and blue rings on her fingers.

Vaguely this rushed through Caroline's mind, and it was with an
unconscious air of patronage that she said, as one making allowances for
inexperience, "When you get married, then you'll _have_ to get tired of
them, you know."

"But you'll be glad you've got 'em, when they're once in bed," Miss
Honey added encouragingly. "My mother says I'm a real treasure to her,
after half-past seven!"

The Princess flushed; her straight dark eyebrows quivered and met for an
instant.

"But I _am_ married," she said.

There was an utter silence.

"I was married five years ago yesterday, as it happens," she went on,
"but it's not necessary to set up a day nursery, you know, under those
circumstances."

Still silence. Miss Honey studied the floor, and Caroline, after an
astonished stare at the Princess, directed her eyes from one tapestry to
another.

"I suppose you understand that, don't you?" demanded the Princess
sharply. She appeared unnecessarily irritated, and as a matter of fact
embarrassed her guests to such an extent that they were utterly unable
to relieve the stillness that oppressed them quite as much as herself.

The Princess uttered an angry exclamation and paced rapidly up and down
the room, looking more regal and more unlike other people than ever.

"For heaven'