“You wish me to speak plainly, I suppose,” he said;--“though you know already what I mean. I repeat,--I, and I alone, am to blame,--for--for anything that seemed strange to you yesterday, when you met Von Glauben at The Islands.” The King’s serious face lightened with a gleam of laughter. “Nothing seemed very strange to me, Humphry,” he said, “except the one fact that I found Von Glauben,--whom I supposed to be studying scientific problems,--engaged in studying a woman instead! A very beautiful woman, too, who ought to be something better than a sailor’s wife. And I do not understand, as yet, what he has to do with her, unless--” Here he paused and went on more slowly--“Unless he is, as I suspect, acting for you in some way, and trying to tempt the fair creature with the prospect of a prince’s admiration while the sailor husband is out of the way! Remember, I know nothing--I merely hazard a guess. You are an habitué of The Islands;--though I learned, on enquiry of the interesting old gentleman who was good enough to be my host, Réné Ronsard, that nobody had ever seen you there. They had only seen your yacht constantly cruising about the bay. This struck me as curious, I must confess. Some of your men were well known,--particularly one,--the husband of the pretty girl I saw. Her name, it seems, is Gloria,--and I must admit that it entirely suits her. I can hardly imagine that if you have visited The Islands as often as you seem to have done, you can have escaped seeing her. She is too beautiful to remain unknown to you--particularly if her husband is, as they tell me, in your service. I asked her to give me his name, but she refused it point-blank. I do not wish to accuse you of an amour, which you are perhaps quite innocent of--but certain things taken in their conjunction look suspicious,--and I would remind you that honour in princes,--as in all men,--should come before self-indulgence.” “I entirely agree with you, Sir!” said the Prince, composedly; “And in the present case honour has been my first thought, as it will be my last. Gloria is my wife!” “Your wife!” The King rose, his tall figure looking taller, his eyes sparkling with anger from under their deep-set brows. “Your wife! Are you mad, Humphry! You!----the Heir-Apparent to the Throne! You have married her!”