"I warned you to change the subject," said Alba, when she and the Prince
were alone. Ardea, somewhat abashed, shrugged his shoulders and laughed:

"You will confess that the situation is quite piquant, little
Countess.... You will see she will forbid me to go to the Quirinal....
Only one thing will be lacking, and it is that Papa Hafner should
discover religious scruples which would prevent him from greeting the
King.... But Fanny must be appeased!"

"My God!" said Alba to herself, seeing the young man rise in his turn.
"I believe he is intoxicated. What a pity!"

As have almost all revolutions of that order, the work of Christianity,
accomplished for years, in Fanny had for its principle an example.

The death of a friend, the sublime death of a true believer, ended by
determining her faith. She saw the dying woman receive the sacrament,
and the ineffable joy of the benediction upon the face of the sufferer of
twenty lighted up by ecstasy. She heard her say, with a smile of
conviction:

"I go to ask you of Our Lord, Jesus Christ."

How could she have resisted such a cry and such a sight?

The very day after that death she asked of her father permission to be
baptized, which request drew from the Baron a reply too significant not
to be repeated here:

"Undoubtedly," had replied the surprising man, who instead of a heart,