As constantly Nellie Northover's thoughts reverted to the affable prince, so did his Highness, on his part, sit hour upon hour smoking his pet Russian cigarettes in quick succession, pondering and wondering. His position was one of terrible weariness. Ah! how often he wished that he had not been born a prince. As an ordinary mortal he might have dared to aspire to the hand of the sweet young English miss. But as Prince Albert of Hesse-Holstein, such a marriage would be denounced by press and public as a _misalliance_. He liked James Northover. There was something of the John Bull about him which he admired. A keen, hard-headed business man, tall and bald, who spoke with a Nottingham brogue, and who had been over thirty years in the service of the bank, he was a highly trusted servant of his directors. In allowing overdrafts he seldom made mistakes, while his courtesy had brought the bank a considerably increased business. The Prince knew all that. A couple of days after meeting Nellie in Anseremme he had written to a certain Reverend Thomas Clayton, who lived in Bayswater, and had only that morning received a long letter bearing the Stamford postmark. It was on account of this letter that he went out after luncheon in the car along the Rue Royale, and down the Boulevard Botanique, to the Grand Hotel on the Boulevard d'Anspach. He found Nellie alone in the big _salon_, reading an English paper. On seeing him the girl flushed slightly and jumped to her feet, surprised that he should call unexpectedly. "Miss Northover!" he exclaimed, raising his motor-cap, "I've called to take you all for a little run this afternoon--if you can come. I have the car outside." "I'm sure it's awfully kind of you, Prince," the girl replied with some confusion. "I--well, I don't know what to say. Father and mother are out." "Ah!" he laughed; "and of course you cannot come with me alone. It is against your English ideas of _les convenances_--eh?" She laughed in chorus, afterwards saying: "I expect them back in half an hour." "Oh, then, I'll wait," he exclaimed, and taking off his motor-coat, he seated himself in a chair and began to chat with her, asking what sights of Brussels she had seen, at the same time being filled with admiration at her fresh sweetness and _chic_. They were alone in the room, and he found an indescribable charm in her almost childlike face and girlish chatter. She was so unlike the artificial women of cosmopolitan society who were his friends. Yes. He was deeply in love with her, and by her manner towards him he could not fail to notice that his affection was reciprocated. Presently her parents appeared. They had noticed the big cream-coloured car with the chauffeur standing outside, and at once a flutter had run through both their hearts, knowing that the august visitor had arrived to call upon them.