Part 18 (1/2)

”I don't think we'll have any more trouble,” he said. ”Markeld and I have called a truce for a week, and by that time--”

He paused again, evidently on the verge of another indiscretion. Chance saved him the necessity of going on, for at that moment a tall, military figure loomed ahead, approached, hesitated, stopped, and uncovered.

”I hope I see you better this morning, Lord Vernon,” said a pleasant voice.

”Why, yes, thank you, Your Highness,” answered Vernon, colouring a little. ”I feel much better. Let me introduce to you Miss Rushford,” he added, catching the other's admiring glance and interpreting it aright.

”Miss Rushford, this is the Prince of Markeld.”

CHAPTER XI

The Prince Gains an Ally

So it presently came to pa.s.s that Susie Rushford found herself walking on with the Prince of Markeld, while Nell took her place beside the invalid's chair. Five minutes later, Vernon had revised his judgment and decided that Nell was far the handsomer--she had the air, somehow, which one a.s.sociates with d.u.c.h.esses, but which, alas! is, in reality, so seldom theirs. She was just a little regal, just a little awe-inspiring, so that to win a smile impressed one as, in a way, an achievement.

Vernon had won several before they had been long together, and felt his heart growing strangely, deliciously warm within him.

As to Sue--if we may pause to a.n.a.lyse her feelings--she, too, had been for the first moment impressed. The Prince was so visibly a Highness; every line of him expressed it, not consciously, but inevitably, from the blood out. So, after a glance or two, she walked along beside him rather humbly and very silent, not in the least as the proverbial American girl should have done! Then she stole another glance at him and saw that he was twisting his moustache in evident perplexity.

”You may have perceived,” he said, at last, with that slight formality of utterance which Sue thought very taking, ”that I was most desirous of meeting you, Miss Rushford.”

”I believe I _did_ discern a sort of royal command in your eye,”

a.s.sented Susie, feeling suddenly at ease with him. He was evidently a mere man, even though he were a prince.

”Yes,” he continued, ”I felt that I owed you and your sister a more complete apology than it was possible for me to make yesterday without impertinence. You see I am unaccompanied to-day.”

”Poor Jax!” laughed Susie.

”I suspect,” the Prince continued, ”that I somehow offended you when I offered you the dog.”

”Oh, you perceived it, did you?” and she flashed an ironic glance upon him.

”Yes--though I could not in the least guess in what the offence consisted.”

”My dear sir,” said Sue, tartly, ”American girls are not in the habit of accepting gifts from utter strangers.”

”Not even from--from--”

He stopped, at a loss for a word which would express his meaning without absurdity.

”No, not even from Royal Highnesses,” she added, interpreting his thought. ”Besides, you know, in America we haven't any.”

The Prince walked on in silence for a moment, his brow knit in meditation.

”Your last sentence explains it,” he said, at last. ”You have in America no cla.s.s whose prerogative it is to bestow gifts, and, in consequence, you do not accept them as a matter of course. With us a gift is a conventional thing, like shaking hands.”

”I wasn't trying to explain it,” said Susie, with a little sigh of despair, ”or to defend it--but let it go.” Then, with a flash of mischief,--”Are you frequently called upon?”

”There are occasions almost every day which demand them of us,” answered the Prince, soberly, missing the glance.