"Now you are flattering me to make me speak. Well, I will not speak, there! But I will show you something that will make you open your eyes. See, what do you say to this pretty thing?" And Mila took from her bosom a locket surrounded by large diamonds. "They are fine stones," she said, "and worth I don't know how much money. Enough to provide me with a marriage portion if I chose to sell them; but I will never part with them, because they came from my best friend." "And that friend is the Princess of Palmarosa?" "Yes, Agatha Palmarosa; don't you see her cipher engraved on the gold of the locket?" "Yes, that is true! But what is there inside this priceless trinket?" "Hair, lovely light chestnut hair, with a touch of gold, naturally curly, and so fine!" said the girl, opening the locket. "Isn't it soft and glossy?" "That isn't the princess's, for hers is black." "So you have seen her, after all?" "Yes, I just caught a glimpse of her. But tell me, Mila, whose hair you wear against your heart, and in such a valuable locket?" "How inquisitive you are! you are blind and dull, too, like all inquisitive people. Don't you recognize it? Don't you remember where I got it?" "No, indeed, I do not." "Well, put it against yours and you will recognize it, although your head has grown a little darker in a year." "Dear little sister! yes, I do remember now that you cut it from my head the day you left Rome--and you have kept it all this time!" "I used to carry it in a little black bag. My friend Agatha asked of what saint I carried a relic in my scapulary, and when I told her that it was my darling and only brother's hair, she took it and said she would send it back to me the next day; and the next day she sent me by father this lovely locket filled with your hair. However, some of it was missing. The jeweller who put it inside either stole it or lost it." "Lost it, that may be," said Michel, with a smile; "but as for stealing it! This hair has no value to anyone but you, Mila!" X PROBLEM "But, after all, what is the source of this friendship of the princess for you," continued Michel, after a pause; "what have you ever done for her that she should make you such presents?" "Nothing at all. Father, who is on excellent terms with her, took me to the palace one day to present me to her. She took a fancy to me; she paid me all sorts of attentions; she asked me for my friendship, and I promised it and gave it to her at once. I passed the day all alone with her, walking about her villa and the gardens. Since then I go there when I choose, and I am always sure of being well received." "And you go often?" "I have never been but twice, for it isn't long since I first knew her. I know that the palace has been turned upside down this last week by the preparations for the ball, and I was afraid of being in poor Agatha's way when, of course, she had a thousand things to do. But I shall go in two or three days."