CHAPTER XXI.
The Princess arranged her skirts so that they drooped gracefully, and turned upon her companion with one of those slow mysterious smiles, which many people described but none could imitate.
"Mr.De la Borne," she said, "I can talk to you as I could not talk to your brother, because you are an older and a wiser man.

You may not have seen much of the world, but you are at any rate not a young idiot like Cecil.

Will you listen to me, please ?" "It seems to me," Andrew answered drily, "that I am already doing so." "I am not going to ask you," she continued, "whether you are in love with my little girl or not, because the whole thing is too ridiculous.
I have no doubt that she has some sort of a fancy for you.

It is evident that she has.

I want you to remember that she is fresh from school, that as yet she has not entered life, and that a few months ago she did not know a man from a gate-post." "An admirable simile," Andrew murmured.
"What I want you to understand is," the Princess continued, "that as yet she cannot possibly be in a position to make up her mind as to her future.