And as they stood, in their superb promise of fulfilment, they conquered.

The Princess said: "Mais dis quelque chose, toi." And Paul met the flash in her eyes, and he smiled.

"Your Royal Highness, my lords, ladies and gentlemen," said he, while all the company were racking their brains to recall a precedent for such proceedings at a more than formal London dinner party; "the Princess and myself thank you from our hearts.

For me this might almost seem the end of the fairy-tale of my life, in which--when I was eleven years old--her ladyship the Countess of Danesborough" (he bowed to the Maisie of years ago), "whom I have not seen from that day to this, played the part of Fairy Godmother.

She gave me a talisman then to help me in my way through the world.