"That was undertaken two and a half years ago; at that time she was in a delicate state of health, and the physicians recommended a tour around the Adriatic. She travelled incognito with a slender suite under the care of Cardinal Ravenna." "Who took her, among other places," thought Paul, "to Castel Nuovo, as is proved by the fragment of lace in the secret corridor." "This tour was productive of singular results," continued Trevisa, musingly. "In what way?" "Well, it was to have lasted three months, but it was extended to six; and when the princess returned she was an altered being; I do not mean in appearance, I refer to her character." Light began to dawn upon Paul. The Princess Natalie had not returned to Czernova; instead there had come her living image--Barbara! "What remarkable development had the princess's character undergone?" "Beforetime she was a gay and vivacious maiden. She returned grave and sedate. This change was attributed to the earthquake." "The earthquake?" "Yes. Don't you remember the great upheaval on the Dalmatian littoral two years ago?" "Ah! I remember something of the sort, now I come to think of it." "Well, the terrible scenes witnessed by Princess Natalie, together with her own nearness to death, seem to have sobered her from girlhood into womanhood. From that time she began to take a keen interest in state affairs, which she had previously regarded as boredom." "Barbara was keenly interested in politics," thought Paul. "Beforetime her predilections, if she had any, were in favor of Russia. She returned divested of her Muscovite sympathies." "Barbara was decidedly an anti-Muscovite," thought Paul. "But the greatest change--" "Yes, the greatest change--?" repeated Paul, observing that the other had stopped short in his utterance with the air of one about to be betrayed into an imprudent statement. As Trevisa did not reply, Paul drew a bow at a venture. "The princess was reared in the Greek faith, I am given to understand? Humph! what was Prince Thaddeus thinking of when he placed his daughter under the tutelage of Cardinal Ravenna? One can guess the result. The princess went away a Greek, and came back a Catholic. Is it not so?" "Hush!" muttered Trevisa, glancing around in some trepidation. "Yes, that is so. You have hit on a state secret, communicated only to her cabinet, and to me--her secretary. But, Paul, breathe not a word of this to any one, for the knowledge of it would shake her throne, and--" He paused. There was a sudden commotion in the street below. Pedestrians had stopped in their walk, and were crowding to the edge of the pavement with their faces all set in one direction, whence came the distant sound of cheering and of clapping hands. The applause rolled in _crescendo_ along the boulevards, advancing nearer each moment to the two friends.