Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 14740-h.htm or 14740-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/4/14740/14740-h/14740-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/4/14740/14740-h.zip) THE PRINCESS PASSES A Romance of a Motor-Car by C. N. and A. M. WILLIAMSON Authors of _The Lightning Conductor_ Illustrated New York Henry Holt and Company 1905 [Illustration: "FOOD FOR THE GODS, AND ONLY A BOY TO EAT IT."] TO THE DEAR PRINCESS WHO, EACH YEAR, MAKES THE RIVIERA SUNNIER FOR HER PRESENCE CONTENTS CHAPTER I. WOMAN DISPOSES II. MERCÉDÈS TO THE RESCUE III. MY LESSON IV. POTS, KETTLES, AND OTHER THINGS V. IN SEARCH OF A MULE VI. THE WINGS OF THE WIND VII. AT LAST! VIII. THE MAKING OF A MYSTERY IX. THE BRAT X. THE SCRAPING OF ACQUAINTANCE XI. A SHADOW OF NIGHT XII. THE PRINCESS XIII. AFTERNOON CALLS XIV. THE PATH OF THE MOON XV. ENTER THE CONTESSA XVI. A MAN FROM THE DARK XVII. THE LITTLE GAME OF FLIRTATION XVIII. RANK TYRANNY XIX. THE LITTLE RIFT WITHIN THE LUTE XX. THE GREAT PAOLO XXI. THE CHALLENGE XXII. AN AMERICAN CUSTOM XXIII. THERE IS NO SUCH GIRL XXIV. THE REVENGE OF THE MOUNTAIN XXV. THE AMERICANS XXVI. THE VANISHING OF THE PRINCE XXVII. THE STRANGE MUSHROOM XXVIII. THE WORLD WITHOUT THE BOY XXIX. THE FAIRY PRINCE'S RING XXX. THE DAY OF SUSPENSE XXXI. THE BOY'S SISTER ILLUSTRATIONS "FOOD FOR THE GODS, AND ONLY A BOY TO EAT IT" (Frontispiece) "WE REALLY WANT YOU, SAID MOLLY" "SOMETIMES JACK DROVE, WITH MOLLY BESIDE HIM" "THE BLUE FLAME OF THE CHAFING-DISH" "I WAS SUDDENLY CLAPPED UPON THE SHOULDER" "TREADING THE ROAD BUILT BY NAPOLÉON" "THERE WAS A PANG WHEN I TURNED MY BACK" "THAT IS THE DÉJEUNER OF NAPOLÉON" "DOWN, TURK!" "BE QUIET, JUPITER!" "ON THE GROUND CROUCHED THE BOY" "'DO YOU KNOW,' SAID I, 'YOU ARE A VERY QUEER BOY'" "LOOKING OUT OF THE WINDOW I SAW HIM IN CONVERSATION" "SITTING WITH MY BACK TO THE HORSES" "HERE WE WERE AT ANNECY" "VOILÀ MONSIEUR!" "THE ROCK OF MONACO" CHAPTER I Woman Disposes "Away, away, from men and towns, To the wild wood and the downs, To the silent wilderness." --PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. "To your happiness," I said, lifting my glass, and looking the girl in the eyes. She had the grace to blush, which was the least that she could do, for a moment ago she had jilted me. The way of it was this. I had met her and her mother the winter before at Davos, where I had been sent after South Africa, and a spell of playing fast and loose with my health--a possession usually treated as we treat the poor, whom we expect to have always with us. Helen Blantock had been the success of her season in London, had paid for her triumphs with a breakdown, and we had stopped at the same hotel.