Mr. Howard looked the young man straight in the face. “Bevare o’ vidders, my boy,” he said solemnly. “Needn’t worry--nothing doing there,” Drexel returned; but he did not see fit to add that it was not from lack of encouragement from the widow. “Yes, sir, a stunner!” his uncle repeated. “And now, tell me, Henry--what do you think of our prince?” “You have not seen him yet?” “No. He had an audience with the Czar to-day, Alice told me. How do you size him up?” Drexel’s eyes fell to the cloth and he hesitated. “As a prince? Or as a man?” “Both. First as a prince. O. K., isn’t he? You remember that as soon as your aunt cabled me from Paris about the engagement, I cabled the proper parties to investigate him. They said he was the real thing.” “Oh, he’s the real thing all right. He belongs to the highest nobility--hasn’t played the deuce with his fortune--is a man of great political power.” “Good! Agrees exactly with the reports sent me. Just what sort of an official is he?” “There you have me.” “What do you mean?” “I mean I don’t know.” “Don’t know! And been knocking around with him for three months!” “Oh, I have asked him, once or twice. But he answered he did not exactly know himself. He said he guessed he was a sort of consulting attorney to the Government. He is frequently closeted with this general and that governor, with the minister of this and the minister of that, and is summoned every now and then to see the Czar. That’s all I know, and the few people I’ve discreetly quizzed about him seem to know no more.” “A sort of mystery, eh?” “In a way--yes; though he makes light of there being anything mysterious in his position. He says he really has no official status at all, that he is no more than a private gentleman. In fact, if he were an official he’d have to be in St. Petersburg more than he is; most of his time he spends on an estate about fifty miles away.” “Yes, Alice spoke of that estate; she said we were going out there to a house party day after to-morrow. The prince part of him sounds all right. How about the man?” “He will doubtless call when he returns from the Czar. That will answer your question.” The shrewd old eyes looked deep. “I see you don’t like him.” “Put it the other way.” “Don’t like you--eh? Why?” “I can only give you a guess.” “Your guess is as good as most men’s certainties. Go on.” “Well--the fact is, he found out about--about Alice and me, you know.” The uncle nodded. “And he’s a little suspicious--jealous. That’s one reason. What else?” “Well, you know of course what he is marrying Alice for. Money. Not that he’s hard up. But he’s ambitious--terrifically ambitious. He dreams of becoming the greatest man in the empire, next to the Czar. He----” “It sounds to me like we’d picked out a good one!” broke in his uncle.