Pat's side. He kissed her hand with dazzling grace. Then he turned his brilliant smile upon her, and beneath that smile, greatly to my alarm, she seemed as wax.

The cocktail prelude to dinner was unavoidably lengthened to a quarter of an hour, for Jane was called unexpectedly to the telephone. Her absence left Henry and Olinski still conversing earnestly at one end of the hall, while I sat patiently at the other end, under the staircase, fidgeting with my glass, and glancing around anxiously from time to time at Pat and the Prince, who were sitting informally, but luxuriously, on some cushions the Prince had placed on the lower steps of the stairs. Sipping at her cocktail Pat seemed to become more and more responsive to the young nobleman's flatteries.

Presently my position grew to be a most embarrassing one. While their voices came to me at first only in murmured undertones, I became suddenly conscious of hearing every word they said. Any attempt at eavesdropping is beneath my dignity, but confronting a situation so fateful and momentous in Pat's life, with the Prince exercising his fascinations upon her, I cast aside my principles and listened. And of all the fatuous, syrupy conversations, I had never heard the like before.

"It was so awfully, awfully sweet of you to ask me to dinner tonight," the Prince was saying in a low, rapturous voice.

"But I didn't invite you," Pat countered. "Uncle Henry did, for some reason or other."

"Some excellent reason, I hope," said the Prince. "He seems to appreciate my chivalrous devotion to you, my unselfishness and utter trustworthiness. And a truer help-mate I could never find. You are such a sweet-natured and lovable girl."

"You have said that before, Your Highness," Pat gently reminded him.

"And I shall say it a thousand times again," he answered. "True, I am well-born but penniless. But, please--please don't say that your regard for me is compounded more of pity than of love."

"We'll talk about that, after dinner, shall we?" Pat suggested artfully.

"Your pleasure is my pleasure," he said. "Yes; we'll talk about that after dinner. We'll take a stroll in the garden, where the night air is intoxicating with its rich aroma of flowers. Or on the terrace, whichever you like. It's such a terribly sweet night, we mustn't miss it."

"I love sweet 

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