Arms and the Woman

By the grand staircase we ran into the Prince. His face wore a

dissatisfied air.

"I was looking for Your Highness," he said to Gretchen. "Your carriage

is at the curb. Permit me to assist you. Ah, yes," in English, "it is

Herr Winthrop. I regret that the interview of to-morrow will have to

be postponed till Monday."

"Any time," said I, watching Gretchen whose eyes widened, "will be

agreeable to me."

Gretchen made as though to speak, but the Prince anticipated her.

"It is merely a little discussion, Your Highness," he said, "which Herr

Winthrop and I left unfinished earlier in the evening. Good night."

On the way to the cloak room it kept running through my mind that I had

lost. Thursday?--she said Thursday was the day of her wedding? It

would be an evil day for me.

Pembroke was in the cloak room.

"Going?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Well, let us go together. Where shall it be--Egypt or the steppes of

Siberia?"

"Home first," said I; "then we shall decide."

When we got into the carriage we lit cigars. For some reason Pembroke

was less talkative than usual. Suddenly he pulled down the window, and

a gust of snow blew in. Then up went the window again, but the cigar

was gone.

"Has anything gone wrong?" I asked.

"'One more unfortunate. . . . Make no deep scrutiny!'" he quoted.

"Jack, she wouldn't think of it, not for a moment. Perhaps I was a

trifle too soon. Yes, she is a Princess, indeed. As for me, I shall

go back to elephants and tigers; it's safer."

"'The Bridge of Sighs,'" said I. "Let us cross it for good and all."

"And let it now read 'Sighs Abridged.'"

He asked me no questions, and I silently thanked him. Once in our

rooms, he drank a little more brandy than I thought good for one "who

may or may not live the year out." I told him so. He laughed. And

then I laughed. Both of us did it theatrically; it was laughter, but

it was not mirth.

"Cousin," said I, "that's the idea; let us laugh. Love may sit on the

windowsill and shiver to death."

"That fellow Anacreon was a fool," said Pembroke. "If the child of

Venus had been left then and there, what a lot of trouble might have

been averted! What do you say to this proposition; the north, the

bears and the wolves? I've a friend who owns a shooting box a few

miles across the border. There's bears and gray wolves galore. Eh?"