perhaps for the first time since he proposed to Frances Thornow.

"By Jove, old man, this is rare, devilish rare. No wonder you have
such a deuced antipathy to the prince. Intuition must have told you
that he was to marry one of the ladies of your past."

"Why, Bob, we were children, and there was nothing to it. Truly, I
had forgotten that pretty child--that's all she was--and I'll warrant
she wouldn't remember my name if some one spoke it in her presence.
Every boy and girl has had that sort of an affair."

"She's the most beautiful creature I ever saw," cried Lady Jane,
ecstatically. Dickey Savage looked sharply at her vivacious face.
"When did you last see her, Mr. Quentin?"

"I can't recall, but I know it was when her hair hung down her back.
She left New York before she was fifteen, I'm quite sure. I think I
was in love with a young widow fourteen years my senior, at the
time, and did not pay much heed to Dorothy's departure. She and her
mother have been traveling since then?"

"They traveled for three years before Mrs. Garrison could make up
her mind to settle down in Brussels. I believe she said it reminded
her of Paris, only it was a little more so," said Lord Bob. "We met
them in Paris five years ago, on our wedding trip, and she was
undecided until I told her she might take a house near the king's
palace in Brussels, such as it is, and off she flew to be as close
to the crown as possible. She struck me as a gory old party who
couldn't live comfortably unless she were dabbling in blue blood.
The girl was charming, though."