The girl flew into a rage, and no whisper or urgency from another, but
her own unbridled, independent nature, which during continual struggle
had been steeled to assert herself, in spite of her poverty, among the
rich companions of her own rank, as well as the newly awakened haughty
consciousness that now, as the object of the mightiest monarch's love,
she was exalted far above the companions of her own rank--led her to
rebuff the warning of the well-meaning man with a sharpness that it ill
beseemed one so much younger to use toward the Emperor's gray-haired
messenger.

The valet shrugged his shoulders compassionately, and his regular
features, whose expression varied only under the influence of strong,
deep feelings, distinctly betrayed how sincerely he lamented her conduct.

Barbara noticed it, and instantly remembered what Wolf had told her about
him and his wife. She did not think of the influence which he exercised
upon the Emperor and the service which he might render her, but all the
more vividly of his steadfast, devoted loyalty, and what he was and had
accomplished for the man whom she loved, and, seized with sincere
repentance, obeying a powerful impulse, she held out her hand with frank
cordiality just as he was already bowing in farewell. Adrian hesitated a
moment.

What did this mean?

What accident was causing this new change of feeling in this April day of
a girl?

But when her sparkling blue eyes gazed at him so brightly and at the
same time so plainly showed that she knew she had wronged him, he clasped