"I prefer coffee, I admit," said I.
"Are you two going anywhere in particular?" she asked.
"Straight back to town," said Lady Helen; "don"t you see Major Dalberg wants his breakfast?"
"And your Ladyship?" the Princess questioned.
Lady Helen laughed. "I am very human, too, I fear."
"Then, why not breakfast with me at the Summer Palace?" said Dehra.
"We shall be delighted," said Lady Helen, without even questioning me by a glance.
"Your Royal Highness is too gracious," I protested. "I fear I shall----"
Dehra raised her crop. "There is only one shaft, sir; you shall come with us."
So I went; even while my better judgment bade me turn bridle and gallop away. A man is very helpless with one pretty woman; he is utterly at the mercy of two.
Presently we pa.s.sed the place where the Princess and I had met six years before. I glanced across and found her eyes on me. I nodded toward the spot where I had removed the stone from the mare"s hoof, and she nodded back in answer.
"This is a very charming road," I said.
"It"s a favorite with Your Highness, is it not?" asked Lady Helen. "I have often met you on it."
I affected to be interested in something beside the track.
"Yes, I believe it is," Dehra answered carelessly. "It is soft for the horse and little travelled and I enjoy the quiet of the forest." Then she deliberately turned and smiled at me. And Lady Helen saw it.
At the top of the hill above the Palace the way narrowed and I fell behind; and, dismounting, I affected to be fixing something about the girth. I wanted to see the Princess go down that tree-lined way as once before I had seen her. Then they came to the bend; and, leaning against my horse"s shoulder, I waited. Would she remember?
Suddenly, she turned and waved her hand, exactly as she had done that other time; only, this time, it was a beckon to follow, not a farewell.
I sprang to saddle and dashed ahead, almost fearing to find her vanished and it only a dream. When I rounded the corner, the Princess and Lady Helen were turning into the drive that led from the road to the Palace; and, once again, Dehra waved me onward.
They awaited me at the gate; and, with the guard standing at attention, we rode into the grounds. I noticed that the Princess acknowledged the salute with her crop as though it were a sword. I had returned it with my hand.
"Your way is the correct one," she said.
"But yours is much the prettier," I answered.
"Maybe that"s why I used it," she laughed.
"It is sufficient justification," I a.s.sured her.
"His Majesty does not think so--he insists that the Colonel of the Blue Guards should conform to the regulations."
"I salute my superior officer," I said, and used my crop as she had done.
"How delightful to be a Colonel," said Lady Helen. "I would wear the uniform all the time--if it were becoming."
"How could it be otherwise?" I exclaimed.
"No sarcasm, sir," she said sharply.
"No, Major Dalberg, no sarcasm," Dehra cautioned, "or you will be asking, presently, if I won my commission on the field of battle."
"I would rather not imagine you on the field of battle," I answered.
"Well, you needn"t," she laughed. "It"s an infliction of birth. It belongs to the eldest child of the King without regard to s.e.x."
"It"s a pity, in your case, the crown does not follow the Colonelcy," I thought--but I did not say it.
At one of the private entrances we drew up. The Princess was out of saddle as quickly as myself; but the Lady Helen waited.
"If you don"t want to stay I can contrive some excuse," she whispered, as I lifted her down.
"I"m quite willing to risk a royal breakfast if you are," I answered.
"Brave man," she mocked, gathering up her skirt; "you wouldn"t flinch at leading a forlorn hope."
"Watch me follow one," I retorted, as I brought up the rear.
"Which one?" she asked over her shoulder; but I did not answer.
The breakfast was served in a charming little room--which I a.s.sumed to be a portion of the Princess" private suite--and was of the sort to provoke more early morning rides along the Old Forge Road.
"This may be a bit unconventional," said Dehra, addressing Lady Helen, rather than me, "but, if the English Amba.s.sador can stand it, I will answer for the King of Valeria."
"And I"ll answer for the American Amba.s.sador," I volunteered.
"Then the others don"t matter," Lady Helen laughed.
"You surely have relieved us very much, Major Dalberg," the Princess added. "Lady Helen and I have been so concerned for your reputation; you risk so much, you know, in breakfasting alone with two unmarried young women."
"I"m quite sensible of my danger," I answered, and looked blandly from one to the other.
The Princess kept her eyes on her plate; but Lady Helen gazed at me in some surprise.
"If you"re not better behaved, sir, I"ll take you away at once," she said.
"You"re only putting a premium on a continuance of it," said Dehra.
"No, I"m not, Your Highness; he hasn"t finished his breakfast."
"You"re very wise," the Princess laughed.
Lady Helen shook her head. "You see, I"ve known Major Dalberg a long time," she said.
"Oh! then you had met before the night of the Ball?"