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"It will be a longer wait than that," I said regretfully. "I have told Courtney I would invite the Radnors and him to take supper with me on the Hanging Garden, to-night." "Why don't you say 'take supper with us'?" "You mean it, Dehra?" I asked in surprise. "You have always refused, hitherto; and I have asked so often." She smiled. "Hitherto was different from now," she said.
Frederick had saluted me with a kiss; was it possible he meant me to kiss Dehra! I glanced across at Courtney, he was struggling to suppress his merriment, then back at the Princess; and caught what I was fool enough to imagine was a look of glad surprise. She had recognized and remembered me. That settled it. I stepped forward and deliberately kissed her on the cheek.
It was Dehra, herself, who brought me up sharply, after a space. "I am afraid, Armand," said she, "if you flirt so strenuously with me to-night, you will have no cards left for the balance of our game." "Our game?" I echoed blankly, forgetting for the moment the compact of the Ball. She smiled. "You see, you play it better than I ever can. I don't even know enough to forget it is a game."
My only solace were the occasional smiles that Dehra gave me smiles that Courtney noted instantly and, I fancied, understood; and that Lotzen intercepted; but what he thought I did not know and did not care. Who ever cares what his defeated rival thinks!
Regula Baddun's owner said: "I throw in my mare to fret Ousel. Six furlongs is Regula's distance, and she will then lie down and die. So also will Ousel, for his jockey doesn't understand a waiting race." Now, this was a lie, for Regula had been in work for two months at Dehra, and her chances were good, always supposing that Shackles broke a blood-vessel OR BRUNT MOVED ON HIM.
"I may not marry Dehra in the face of that certificate and old Henry's Decree; and, since the Alderman is dead, only through Madeline Spencer herself can the falsity of her claim be shown. Every moment here she must act her part and be under our constant surveillance. Sometime, she is sure to make a slip or forget her lines.
And do you take a good look at them yourself; it may be well for you to know their faces." "What a satisfactory Aide," said Dehra. "His eyes didn't even waver toward that other box." "Not only that," I answered; "but, when Moore does do his looking, those in that box won't know it, you may be sure." Then the bells rang for the last act and the Radnors and Courtney were announced.
"Good morning, Lady Helen," he said, taking her fingers and raising them to his lips in the beautiful old-fashion; "it is a pleasure to see you here again." Then he bent and kissed Dehra on the forehead, and turning to me said, extending his hand: "And, Major Dalberg, you are very welcome."
When I rejoined Dehra she had moved forward and was looking over the audience. "I have found an ex-compatriot of yours," she remarked. "Yes?" I said, rather indifferently. "She has just come into the third box on the right. She is wonderfully beautiful or, at least, she looks it from here." "I've got someone wonderfully beautiful beside me," I answered.
"This is Friday dine with Dehra and me here to-morrow evening. Come by the private entrance." Then we went back to the Princess and Lady Helen. But what a different life had opened to me in the short absence. I was sitting alone in the library late that night when Courtney came in. He had been to some function at the French Embassy, from which I had begged off, and seemed surprised to see me.
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