“She won’t have you see that she feels it so, any way. She’ll conclude to keep track of you, with an eye to the future, I know. And I thought the Grand-Duke fixed it real nicely to have this Baroness Radnika come and stay at the hotel, so’s you could just fall in love with her, and invite her to make the cruise with you.” “Oh, it’s all awfully smart, of course, and I guess Count Mortimer was somewhere around when it was fixed. But for you and the Grand-Duke both to insist that I must have this old dowd of a Baroness tag after me, just because she knew pappa, and can teach me their tricks--why, it’s the meanest thing out! I’m real thankful there’s the chance of a frolic or two first. I’ll even up my accounts with you, you bet!” To Maimie this was sufficiently alarming, and yet, although Félicia kept her word, and enjoyed herself thoroughly at the Mid-Lent gaieties, the great and most disagreeable shock which the Battle of Flowers brought with it was not due to her. As a reward for her complaisance in withdrawing from the pleasures of society for the present, she had promised herself the delight of outshining all possible rivals before she disappeared from view. Her carriage was a bower of irises in all the delicate shades which the flower presents, and the occupants were dressed to correspond. Mrs van Zyl’s gown was a soft harmony in yellow and lavender, Maimie wore white and dark purple, and Félicia was in the colour she loved best, a clear pale lilac, emphasised, but not unduly so, by the touches of black velvet demanded by fashion. The scheme of decoration had been kept a profound secret, and the “iris carriage” was greeted with shouts of admiration from end to end of the course. Close at hand rode King Michael, duly masked, but quite recognisable to the spectators, in a rich gold-embroidered Thracian dress of two shades of purple. The understanding which was implied by the correspondence between his costume and those of the ladies suggested a hint of romance which the populace were not slow to take, and he shared in the plaudits which accompanied the carriage in its progress. Maimie felt a little uneasy, wondering whether his action would be considered premature by his relations, but before long she was conscious of quite a different cause for anxiety. Among the mounted men by whom the line of carriages was every now and then broken was one who seemed to be manœuvring to place himself near Félicia, endeavouring also to attract her attention by making his horse prance and curvet. He seemed to be short of stature, but the close-fitting Mephistopheles dress which he wore, carried out not in red but in black, set off a peculiarly graceful figure, and he displayed a complete mastery over his restless steed. His hair was black, and his eyes, when they could be distinguished through the holes in his mask, dark and glittering. His mysterious appearance was well calculated to rouse the curiosity of any one not