to be pitied. You are generous in your selection of potentates,
be generous, then, with me, a benighted royalist, who craves
leniency of one who may some day be President of the United
States."

"Granted, without discussion. As possible, though not probable,
President of the United States, I am magnanimous to an
unfortunate who can never hope to be princess, no matter how well
she might grace the gilded throne."

She greeted this glowing remark with a smile so intoxicating that
he felt himself the most favored of men. He saw that smile in
his mind's eye for months afterward, that maddening sparkle of
joy, which flashed from her eyes to the very bottom of his heart,
there to snuggle forever with Memory's most priceless treasures.
Their dinner was but one more phase of this fascinating dream.
More than once he feared that he was about to awake to find bleak
unhappiness where exquisite joy had reigned so gloriously. As it
drew to an end a sense of depression came over him. An hour at
most was all that he could have with her. Nine o'clock was
drawing nigh with its regrets, its longings, its desolation. He
determined to retain the pleasures of the present until, amid the
clanging of bells and the roll of car wheels, the dismal future
began. His intention to accompany them to the station was
expressed as they were leaving the table. She had begun to say
good-by to him when he interrupted, self-consciousness forcing
the words hurriedly and disjointedly from his lips:

"You will let me go to the station with you. I shall--er--deem
it a pleasure."