"Make up your mind, then, and say yes," Cecil de la Borne pleaded.

"You shall hear from us within the next few days," the Princess
answered. "I really believe that we shall come."

The little party left the restaurant a few minutes later on their
way into the foyer for coffee. The Princess contrived to pass out
with Forrest as her companion.

"I think," she said under her breath, "that this is the best
opportunity you could possibly have. We shall be quite alone down
there, and perhaps it would be as well that you were out of London
for a few weeks. If it does not come to anything we can easily make
an excuse to get away."

Forrest nodded.

"But who is this young man, De la Borne?" he asked. "I don't mean
that. I know who he is, of course, but why should he invite perfect
strangers to stay with him?"

The Princess smiled faintly.

"Can't you see," she answered, "that he is simply a silly boy? He is
only twenty-four years old, and I think that he cannot have seen
much of the world. He told me that he had just been abroad for the
first time. He fancies that he is a little in love with me, and he
is dazzled, of course, by the idea of Jeanne's fortune. He wants to
play the host to us. Let him. I should be glad enough to get away