there," indicating the great house, "any more than you do. They like
me for a novelty, because I've dared and suffered; and because, as
things turned out, I was in a position to do what they are pleased to
call a great service to the Empire. I wish I liked them better--they
want to be very kind to me, and I was born of them, so they like me the
better for that. But I've been in the wilderness too much--I can't get
used to these strange folk at home."

"I used to think I couldn't get used to strange folk," Mary Alice
murmured, "but I seem to have got on fairly well for a girl from
Nowhere."

"Was it the Secret?"

She nodded.

"When may I know?"

"I--I can't tell."

"You told the King."

"He seemed to need it so."

"Don't I need it?"

"I--I can't tell."

He seemed discouraged, and as if he did not know what next to say.
They strolled in silence over to where she had been standing the night