“There is nothing to pardon,” said Prince Khris sweetly. “Englishmen are so insular. They never know anything about their neighbors across the water. It is perfectly well known everywhere out of England that my daughter was--separated--from Vanderlin, but that you, my Lord Brancepeth, should not know it is _tout ce qu’il y a de plus naturel_.” “He takes it uncommonly coolly,” thought Brancepeth, still under the spell of his astonishment, and still distressed as an Englishman always is at having made a stupid mistake and wounded an acquaintance. “But is she married again?” he asked anxiously. “How does she come to be Lynar?” “Dear youth, you are not discreet,” thought the Prince, as he replied frankly that her mother had been a Countess Lynar, and that his daughter had taken her mother’s name, he was himself never very sure why; but she was always a little self-willed and fanciful, she was a woman; _femme très femme_! When she had married into _la haute finance_ she had of course forfeited her place in the Hof-Kalendar. “But her maiden name is there.” He turned over the leaves of the Almanac de Gotha and pointed to the entry of the birth of his daughter the Countess Olga Marie Valeria. “Why does she call herself Countess Lynar?” said Brancepeth with curiosity, conscious of his own bad manners. Prince Khris pointed to the page: “It was her mother’s name, you see; and more than that, in the property which my daughter possesses there is a little Schloss Lynar, hardly more than a ruin, hidden under woods in Swabia which gives that title to whoever owns it. Were you to purchase it you would have the right to write yourself Graf zu Lynar.” “I would rather own the lady than the castle,” said Brancepeth, too stupid and too careless to note the deepening offence in the eyes of Mouse. Prince Khris smiled meaningly. “The lady might give you the more trouble of the two.” “How he hates her!” thought Brancepeth. “I suppose she keeps a tight rein on the property.” Brancepeth’s experiences, which had been extensive in range though brief in years, had told him that these family dislikes and disagreements usually had their root in the _auri sacra fames_; and the fact was well known all over Europe that this serene, courtly, distinguished-looking gentleman, whose name was recorded in the Hof-Kalendar, lived very nearly, if not entirely, by his wits. High play is one thing; cheating is another; if you ruin yourself it is your own affair, but if you try to ruin others by unfair means it is the affair of your neighbors. Prince Khristof’s mind was so made that he had never been able to perceive or comprehend the difference; of late years the meaning of that difference had been enforced on him disagreeably.