"Forgive me, Paul. Do not reproach me with his name. Remember that I thought you dead. I have never forgotten you, nor ceased to love your memory. It was political necessity that drove me to the arms of Bora. On my coming here from Dalmatia in the character of Princess Natalie, I was compelled by the _rôle_ I had assumed to receive the addresses of the duke, addresses which I at heart loathed. It had been my intention to break with him ultimately; but of late, since I have been threatened with deposition by Cardinal Ravenna,--yes, deposition," she repeated with flashing eyes,--"I have weakly thought of marrying the duke; for inasmuch as he is the heir-apparent I should thus ensure my rank, if not my power, as princess. But that idea is gone now; I cast it from me forever." "But why? Is not the necessity for conciliating the duke as great to-day as yesterday?" "No; for if I should have lost my crown I should have lost the one thing I held most dear; if I lose it now--" She paused in her utterance. "Yes, if you should lose it now--?" "Have I not you?" she answered with a soft pressure of her arms. Paul would have deserved instant knouting if he had not kissed the princess for that saying. Then, becoming grave again he said,-- "You say the cardinal threatens you with deposition? Why this hostility on his part?" "Because I will not dance to his piping." "And by adhering to me you will increase his hostility, since with him I shall not be a _persona gratissima_." "He cannot ruin me without ruining himself, and ambition will cause him to pause ere doing that." "But," said the puzzled Paul, "since you are the daughter of Prince Thaddeus, how is it possible for him to dethrone you, and why is it necessary that you should personate the Princess Natalie?" All this time Barbara had been standing clasped within Paul's arms; but now, taking him by the hand, she led him to a seat, and sat down beside him. "The story of my life, as far as it was known to me, I told you at Isola Sacra. Let me now supplement it with details which I have since learned." The following is a brief outline of Barbara's narration. The late Prince Thaddeus had in youth contracted a marriage with a young English lady named Hilda Tressilian, who lived in the neighborhood of Warsaw. Thaddeus, aware that his father would be averse to this match, kept it a secret, visiting his wife at intervals. During his absence in Czernova Hilda died suddenly, and was buried ere the prince had time to gaze upon her lifeless form.