He was a stout man of much ceremony and took some while to elaborate a compliment upon Clementina's altered looks.

Before, he had always seen her armed and helmeted with dignity; now she had much ado to keep her lips from twitching into a smile, and the smile in her eyes she could not hide at all.

The Prince took the change to himself.

His persistent wooing had not been after all in vain.

He was not, however, the man to make the least of his sufferings in the pursuit which seemed to end so suitably to-day.
"Madam," he said with his grandest air, "I think to have given you some proof of my devotion.