"Phyllis, can you not look back, perhaps as in a dream, to an old inn, where soldiers and ministers in a hurry and confusion moved to and fro? No; I dare say you were too young. The Princess Hildegarde of Hohenphalia is your sister." I rose and bowed to her respectfully. "My sister?--the Princess?--I, a Princess? Jack," indignantly, "you are mocking me! It is not fair!" "Phyllis, as sure as I stand before you, all I have said is true. And now let me be the first to do homage to Your Serene Highness," taking her hand despite her efforts to withdraw it, and kissing it. "It is unreal! Impossible! Absurd!" she cried. "Let me repeat the words of the French philosopher, who said, 'As nothing is impossible, let us believe in the absurd,'" said I. "But why has Uncle Bob kept me in ignorance all these years?" unconvinced. "Because, as I have said before, he knew nothing till to-day. I have even spoken to the Chancellor, who has promised to aid in recovering your rights." "And does she know--the Princess Hildegarde? My sister? How strange the word feels on my tongue." "No; she does not know, but presently she will." Then Phyllis asked in an altered tone, "And what is all this to you that you thrust this greatness upon me?--a greatness, I assure you, for which I do not care?" I regarded her vaguely. I saw a precipice at my feet. I could not tell her that in making her a Princess I was making Gretchen free. I could not confess that my motive was purely a selfish one. "It was a duty," said I, evasively. "And in what way will it concern the Princess Hildegarde's affairs--and yours?" She was rather merciless. "Why should it concern any affair of mine?" I asked. "You love her, and she loves you; may she not abdicate in my favor?" "And if she should?" with an accent of impatience. Phyllis grew silent. "Forgive me, Jack!" impulsively. "But all this is scarcely to be believed. And then you say there are no proofs." "Not in the eyes of the law," I replied; "but nature has written it in your faces." I was wondering why she had not gone into raptures at the prospect of becoming a Princess. "It is a great honor," she said, after some meditation, "and it is very kind of you. But I care as little for the title as I do for this rose." And she cast away one of Pembroke's roses. It boded ill for my cousin's cause. Presently we saw the giver of the rose loom up in the doorway. He was smiling as usual. "It is supper, Jack," he said; "I'm afraid you'll have to go." "Does he know?" whispered Phyllis as we rose. "Yes." She frowned. And as they went away I mused upon the uncertainty of placing valuable things in woman's hands. The next person I saw was the Chancellor. "Well?" I interrogated. "There can be no doubt," he said, "but--" with an expressive shrug. "Life would run smoother if it had fewer 'buts' and 'its' and 'perhapses.' What you would say," said I, "is that there are no proofs. Certainly they must be somewhere."