Usually among the first to depart on such occasions as these, this time
he remained until almost all the crowd had made their adieux. And it was
with a keen sense of disappointment that he at last entered his carriage
for the home of the Verdaynes. He was hearing again and again in the
words of the voice, as it echoed through his very soul, "When my time
comes, I shall certainly know, and I shall--_live!_"

The letter in his pocket no longer scorched the flesh beneath. He had
forgotten its very existence, nor did he once think of the Princess
Elodie of Austria. What had happened to him?

Had he fallen in love with a--voice?




CHAPTER II


It was May at Verdayne Place, and May at Verdayne Place was altogether
different from May in any other part of the world. The skies were of a
far deeper and richer blue; the flowers reached a higher state of
fragrant and rainbow-hued perfection; the sun shining through the green
of the trees was tempered to just the right degree of shine and shadow.
To an Englishman, home is the beginning and the end of the world, and
Paul Verdayne was a typical Englishman.

To be sure, it had not always been so, but Paul had outlived his
vagabond days and had become thoroughly domesticated; yet there had been