"Beautiful!" remarked his Highness, bending closer to examine it, for he had the eye of a connoisseur, and saw that it was probably French work of the eighteenth century. "Many people have admired it," she went on. "My husband was very fond of jewellery, and gave me quite a quantity. I never keep it here, however, for a year ago an attempt was made to break into the place." "So you keep them in a safe deposit?" he exclaimed; "and quite right, too. Diamonds are always a sore temptation to burglars." "I'm asking a few people to dinner next Wednesday, and am sending to the bank in York for some of my ornaments," remarked the widow. "I hope they'll be safe here. Since the attempt by thieves, I confess I've been awfully nervous." "Oh, they'll be safe enough," declared the audacious adventurer, taking a fresh Russian cigarette from his case. "I hope so. I have invited a few people--the best in the county--to meet your Highness. I hope you won't object." "Not at all," he replied affably. "Only, as you know, I much prefer to remain _incognito_." "You're one of the most modest men I've ever met," she declared, in a soft voice, intended to be seductive. "I find life as a commoner much more agreeable than as a prince," he responded. "In _incognito_, I always enjoy freedom of speech and freedom of action, which, as a royalty, it is impossible to obtain." The widow's mind was ever active. She was straining her utmost to fascinate her guest. The difference in their ages was really not so very great. Her secret hope was that she could induce him to make a declaration of love. Fancy her, plain Mrs Edmondson, ridiculed by the county and only tolerated by a certain section of it, suddenly becoming a princess! Milnthorpe was a beautiful old place, but to her it was but a sepulchre. She hated it because, while in residence there, she was buried alive. She preferred Monte Carlo, Paris, or even Cairo. "Then the dinner-party will be a very smart one?" he remarked for want of something better to say. "And my hostess herself will surely be the smartest of them all," he added with a bow and an intent to flatter. "Ah! I fear not," replied the widow with a slight sigh. "I dare say the diamonds which poor Tubby gave me are as good as any worn by the other women, but as for smartness--well, Prince, a woman's mirror does not lie," and she sighed again. "Youth is but fleeting, and a woman's life is, alas! a long old age." "Oh, come!" he laughed, lounging back in his chair. "You haven't yet arrived at the regretful age. Life is surely still full of youth for you!" She was much gratified at that little speech of his, and showed it. He continued to flatter her, and with that cunning innate within him he slowly drew from her the fact that she would not be averse to a second marriage. He was fooling her, yet with such cleverness that she, shrewd woman that she was, never dreamed that he was laughing at her in his sleeve.