It was not until he had spent a full hour in doleful self-commiseration, that his sense of worldliness came to his relief.

In a flash, he was joyously convincing himself that her pose during the presentation was artfully--and very properly--assumed.

He saw through it very plainly! How simple he had been! Of course, she could not permit him to feel that she had ever displayed the slightest interest in him! His spirits shot upward so suddenly that Baggs accused him of "negotiating a drink on the sly" and felt very much injured that he had been ignored.
The gardens of the palace were not unlike the stage setting of a great spectacle.

The sleepy, stolid character of the court had been transformed, as if by magic.

Chase wondered where all the pretty, vivacious women could have sprung from--and were these the officers of the Royal Guard that he had so often laughed at in disdain?
Could that gay old gentleman in red and gold be the morbid, carelessly clad Duke of Rapp-Thorberg, whom he had grown to despise because he seemed so ridiculously unlike a real potentate?
He marvelled and rejoiced as he strolled hither and thither with the casual Baggs, and for the first time in his life really felt that it was pleasant to be stared at--in admiration, too, he may be pardoned for supposing.
He could not again approach within speaking distance of the Princess--nor did he presume to make the effort.