But, Bert, old man, don't despair! He won't marry the fair Antoinette--at least, not unless another plan comes to nothing.

Still perhaps she--" He paused and added, with a laugh: "Royal attentions are hard to resist--you know that, don't you, Rudolf ?" "Confound you!" said I; and rising, I left the hapless Bertram in George's hands and went home to bed.
The next day George Featherly went with me to the station, where I took a ticket for Dresden.
"Going to see the pictures ?" asked George, with a grin.
George is an inveterate gossip, and had I told him that I was off to Ruritania, the news would have been in London in three days and in Park Lane in a week.

I was, therefore, about to return an evasive answer, when he saved my conscience by leaving me suddenly and darting across the platform.

Following him with my eyes, I saw him lift his hat and accost a graceful, fashionably dressed woman who had just appeared from the booking-office.

She was, perhaps, a year or two over thirty, tall, dark, and of rather full figure.