"Do you know," said she slowly, and looking at me hard, the while, "I
was foolish enough to think, very long ago, that you rather liked me,
yourself."
"And it's just because I do--that I hoped the finger wasn't bare," I
answered.
"How deliciously unselfish!" she exclaimed. "You will next be
resigning the Princess to His Grace of Lotzen."
"Quite between ourselves, I'll be doing nothing of the sort," I said,
with mock confidentialness.
"Nevertheless, I think I'll tell the Duke he has only to wait," said
she.
"And I'll confide to Courtney he has only to ask to be taken," I
returned.
She laughed. "You might do it right now--here he is."
I turned just as Courtney dismounted.
"May I intrude, Your Royal Highness?" he asked.
"Come along," said I; "Lady Helen wants to hear some gossip and I don't
know any."
A bit of a smile came into his eyes. "And that, though you are,
yourself, the most gossiped about individual in Dornlitz," he answered.
"Another penalty of my new estate," said I; "the butt of all and the
confidant of none."
Courtney tapped my Baton. "Have you noticed, Lady Helen, what a steady
run of hard luck our friend, here, has had ever since he came to
Valeria?" he asked.
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