"Ashamed of Dan," answered Charlotte. "That's so like him--not to understand--just to take the crude view of it. I haven't seen him since, but I know so well how he would take a thing like that. As a matter of fact, I must tell you, Lisa--though I promised that I wouldn't--Raimundo was asking my help. He wants to marry the little Haines girl; he wants me to bring you round. He knows you hate everything American--" "I don't hate everything American," said the princess, and again her voice sounded in her ears like Haines'. "This girl, you know, is Dan's niece, and exactly like him. And now I'm afraid that will do for her, as far as you're concerned. Of course you must hate Dan--the idea of him--and if you saw him--well, you will see him at dinner tonight." The moment had come. The princess shook her head. "No," she said, "I shan't be at dinner tonight." Charlotte looked at her and then broke out into protest: "No, no, you mustn't go. Let Raimundo go, if he must, but not you. Don't desert me, Lisa, because I have the misfortune to be married to a man who does not understand. Oh, to think that anything should have happened in my house that has hurt your feelings! I shall never forgive Dan--never! But don't go--for my sake, Lisa." "It's for your sake I'm going, my dear." "I don't understand." "I know you don't, and it is going to be so difficult to explain." The princess rose and, going to the looking-glass, stared at herself, pushed back her hair from her forehead, and then turned suddenly back to her friend. "I suppose I seem to you a terribly worn-out old creature." "My dear!" cried Charlotte. "You seem to me the most elegant, the most mysterious, the most charming person I ever knew." Lisa could not help smiling at this spontaneous outburst. "Then," she said, "let me tell you that the most charming person you ever knew has fallen in love with your husband." Charlotte's jaw literally dropped, and the princess went on: "Yes, last night when Raimundo came and told me what had happened, I went downstairs. I wanted to do what I could to protect you from his thoughtlessness. I went down expecting to see the kind of man you have painted your husband. Oh, Charlotte, what a terrible goose you are!" Even then Charlotte did not immediately understand. She continued to stare. At last she said, "You mean you liked Dan?" "I did much more than that. I thought him the most vital, the most exciting, the most romantic figure I had ever seen." "Dan?" The princess nodded. "The power of the world in his hands--and so alone. I said just now I had fallen in love with him. Well, I suppose at my age one doesn't fall in love, even if one talks to a man all night--" "You and he talked all night?" "All night long--all night long." Charlotte looked quickly at her friend, blinked her eyes, looked away and looked back again. It was not for nothing that her black eyebrows almost met--a sign, the physiognomists tell us, of a jealous nature.