“At home? Oh, Usk, we must go and see him, and find out whether he really----” but Usk pressed her arm. “Is it true that the river flows underground before it reaches the cave, and that there is a place where it disappears into the earth?” he asked the landlord. Volubly the old man assured him that it was perfectly true,--that close to the Mœsian frontier, on the north-east, there was a spot called Bagnanera, where the river disappeared suddenly into a cave of awful blackness, and that objects thrown into the water there had in due time been found in the river below the hotel. “How dreadful!” said Helene, shuddering. “Why,” her tone changed, “there is a European coming up the hill--not an officer. Have you any other visitors?” “It is the great Scythian nobleman who has been visiting the Pelenko mansion. Will the nobilities excuse me?” asked the old man hurriedly. “I must see that his horses are ready.” “How awfully unfortunate!” said Usk quickly, as the landlord hastened back to his house. “It’s Prince Soudaroff, of all people! and there’s no hope that he hasn’t seen us. Well, we had better face it out, Nell, and just admire the view till he gets up here.” The recognition seemed to be mutual, for the gentleman who was mounting the steep path stopped and hesitated perceptibly when he saw the two figures on the hill-top, but coming, apparently, to the same decision as Usk, he resumed his climb, and advanced towards them with beaming countenance and uplifted hat. “I assist at an idyll!” he said in French as he met them. “Youth, beauty, and nature--I enjoy them all at one glance. Let me congratulate you, Lord Usk, on the spot you have chosen for your sojourn. It is evident that you are of the few who have discovered the charms of this corner of Europe, you and--may I say Madame la Vicomtesse?” “Oh yes, please,” said Helene, flushing with pleasure. Here at last was some one who understood her wish without being told. “It isn’t the scenery that has brought us here,” said Usk bluntly. “Ah no, I understand. A family bereavement, is it not? and one of a particularly distressing character. You have no good news yet, I fear?” “Fear? you mean hope!” was Usk’s unuttered comment. Aloud he said, “None.” “But we hope to learn something soon,” said Helene eagerly. “We were so glad to hear that Prince Pelenko has returned home, because he seems to have seen Count Mortimer later than any one else on the evening that he disappeared, and we want to ask him so many things.”