The Professor caught the infection of her mirth, and quickly followed her; and within the next half-hour Réné Ronsard, climbing slowly to the summit of one of the nearest rocks on the shore adjacent to his dwelling, shaded his eyes from the dazzling sunlight on the sea, and strained them to watch the magnificent Royal yacht steaming swiftly over the tranquil blue water, with one slight figure clad in white leaning against the mast, a figure that waved its hand fondly towards The Islands, and of whom it might have been said: “Her gaze was glad past love’s own singing of, And her face lovely past desire of love!” CHAPTER XXII A FAIR DÉBUTANTE That same afternoon there was a mysterious commotion at the Palace,--whispers ran from lip to lip among the few who had seen her, that a beautiful woman,--lovelier than the Queen herself,--had, under the escort of the uncommunicative Professor von Glauben, passed into the presence of the King and Queen, to receive the honour of a private audience. Who was she? What was she? Where did she come from? How was she dressed? This last question was answered first, being easiest to deal with. She was attired all in white,--‘like a picture’ said some--‘like a statue’ said others. No one, however, dared ask any direct question concerning her,--her reception, whoever she was, being of a strictly guarded nature, and peremptory orders having been given to admit no one to the Queen’s presence-chamber, to which apartment she had been taken by the King’s physician. But such dazzling beauty as hers could not go altogether unnoticed by the most casual attendant, sentinel, or lord-in-waiting, and the very fact that special commands had been issued to guard all the doors of entrance to the Royal apartments on either hand, during her visit, only served to pique and inflame the general curiosity.