"What a reputation! And you say she is going to America?"

"Yes. It is to be supposed that she has heard that every
American is a king, and it is no wonder if she is tired of only
one royal lover at a time. And listen, Paul--"

"Well?"

"You--you must not meet her. Oh, but you do not know her power!"

I laughed and pressed her hand, assuring her that I had no
intention of allowing myself to be bewitched by a she-devil; but
as our carriage turned and started back down the long drive
toward the hotel I found myself haunted by the white face and
staring eyes of the young man in the royal coach.

I stayed two weeks longer in Madrid. At the end of that time,
finding myself completely bored (for no woman can possibly be
amusing for more than a month at a time), I bade my friend au
revoir and departed for the East. But I found myself just too
late for an archeological expedition into the heart of Egypt, and
after a tiresome week or so in Cairo and Constantinople I again
turned my face toward the west.

At Rome I met an old friend, one Pierre Janvour, in the French
diplomatic service, and since I had nothing better to do I
accepted his urgent invitation to join him on a vacation trip to
Paris.