"Your Highness likes him?" she asked.
"I do more than like him," I said.
She threw a quick glance up at me.
"Maybe I do, too," she laughed.
"Good," said I; then began to speak of something else. There is just
as proper a point to quit a subject as to start it.
The grass on the bank of the lake was quite dry and Lady Helen
suggested that we sit down.
"This reminds me of a garden in Florence," she said. "Someone might
tell us a story from Boccaccio."
The Marquise held up her hands in affected horror.
"Helen! Helen! You're positively shocking," she said.
"Lady Helen evidently believes in living up to our costumes," I
ventured.
"Why not?" she laughed, "since the masks hide our faces?"
"Very good, my dear," said Lady Vierle, "you tell the first story; we
will take our cue from you."
Lady Helen removed her mask. "Then, that is your first cue," she said.
"I breathe easier," Mademoiselle d'Essolde remarked.
"We all do," said I--then, suddenly, replaced mine and arose.
"Indulge me for a moment," I said, and sauntered over to the path a
little distance away; nor answered the chaffing that was flung after
me. I had seen a woman in gypsy dress and a cavalier in white coming
slowly down the walk.
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