"Ah, Princess, it is very easy for you to treat these serious matters
lightly. He laughs at scars who never felt a wound. Time, being above
all things treacherous, often leaves the face untouched the more
effectually to scar the heart. The hurt concealed is ever the more
dangerous."

"I fancy it has been concealed so effectually that it is not as deep as
you imagined."

"Princess, I will confess to you that the wound at Washington was as
nothing to the one received at London."

"Yes; you told me you had been here for a week."

"The week has nothing to do with it. I have been here for a night--for
two hours--or three; I have lost count of time since I met you."

What reply the girl might have made to this speech, delivered with all
the fervency of a man in thorough earnest, will never be known, for at
that moment their _tete-a-tete_ was interrupted by a messenger, who
said,--

"His Excellency the Austrian Ambassador begs to be permitted to pay his
regards to the Princess von Steinheimer."

Lord Donal Stirling never took his eyes from the face of his companion,
and he saw a quick pallor overspread it. He leaned forward and
whispered,--