a tall veiled woman who seemed unknown to all, but whose unseen eyes, she
instinctively knew, were never averted from the unconscious Prometheus.

It was therefore with some trepidation that she received a summons to the
private apartment of the Princess Miriam.

"Dear friend," the Princess began, "thou knowest the singular affection
which I have invariably entertained for thee."

"Right well do I know it," responded Elenko. ("The thirty-first lie
to-day," she added wearily to herself.)

"It is this affection, dear friend," continued the Princess, "which induces
me on the present occasion to transgress the limits of conventional
propriety, and make a communication distressing to thee, but infinitely
more so to myself."

Elenko implored the Princess to make no such sacrifice in the cause of
friendship, but the great lady was resolute.

"People say," she continued--

"What say they?"

"That thy relation to Desmotes is indiscreet. That it is equivocal. That it
is offensive. That it is sacrilegious. That, in a word, it is improper."

Elenko defended herself with as much energy as her candour would allow.

"Dear friend," said the Princess, "thou dost not imagine that I have part