with an appropriate gesture, and then asked, sharply, "Well,
what is it? Why did you bring me here? And what do you mean
by staying on when you see you are not wanted?"

They were some distance from the others. Kalonay smiled and
made a slight bow. "Your Majesty," he began, with polite
emphasis. The King looked at him curiously.

"In the old days under similar circumstances," the Prince
continued, with the air of a courtier rather than that of an
equal, "had I thought of forming an alliance by marriage, I
should have come to your Majesty first and asked your gracious
approval. But those days are past, and we are living at the
end of the century; and we do such things differently." He
straightened himself and returned the King's look of amused
interest with one as cynical as his own. "What I wanted to
tell you, Louis," he said, quietly, "is that I mean to ask
Miss Carson to become the Princess Kalonay."

The King raised his head quickly and stared at the younger man
with a look of distaste and surprise. He gave an incredulous
laugh.

"Indeed?" he said at last. "There was always something about
rich women you could never resist."

The Prince made his acknowledgment with a shrug of his
shoulders and smiled indifferently.

"I didn't expect you to understand," he said. "It does seem