On returning to the drawing-room after dinner I was struck by the chill weirdness that seemed to be imparted to it by the addition of Lady Elton's couch, which, placed near the fire, suggested a black sarcophagus in bulk and outline. It was practically a narrow bed on wheels, though partially disguised by a silk coverlet draped skilfully so as to somewhat hide its coffin-like shape. The extended figure of the paralysed Countess herself presented a death-like rigidity; but her face as she turned it towards us on our entrance, was undisfigured as yet and distinctly handsome, her eyes especially being large, clear, and almost brilliant. Her daughter introduced us both in a low tone, and she moved her head slightly by way of acknowledgment, studying us curiously the while. "Well, my dear"--said Lord Elton briskly, "This is an unexpected pleasure! It is nearly three months since you honoured us with your company. How do you feel?" "Better," she replied slowly, yet distinctly, her gaze now fixed with wondering intentness on Prince Rimânez. "Mother found the room rather cold"--explained Lady Sibyl--"So we brought her as near to the fire as possible. It _is_ cold"--and she shivered--"I fancy it must be freezing hard." "Where is Diana?" asked the Earl, looking about in search of that lively young lady. "Miss Chesney has gone to her own room to write a letter;" replied his daughter somewhat frigidly--"She will be back directly." At this moment Lady Elton feebly raised her hand and pointed to Lucio, who had moved aside to answer some question asked of him by Miss Charlotte. "Who is that?" she murmured. "Why, mother dear, I told you"--said Lady Sibyl gently--"That is Prince Lucio Rimânez, Papa's great friend." The Countess's pallid hand still remained lifted, as though it were frozen in air. "_What_ is he?" the slow voice again inquired,--and then the hand dropped suddenly like a dead thing. "Now Helena, you must not excite yourself"--said her husband, bending over her couch with real or assumed anxiety; "Surely you remember all I have told you about the prince? And also about this gentleman, Mr Geoffrey Tempest?" She nodded, and her eyes, turning reluctantly away from Rimânez, regarded me fixedly. "You are a very young man to be a millionaire,"--were her next words, uttered with evident difficulty--"Are you married?" I smiled, and answered in the negative. Her looks wandered from me to her daughter's face,--then back to me again with a singularly intent expression. Finally, the potent magnetism of Lucio's presence again attracted her, and she indicated him by a gesture. "Ask your friend ... to come here ... and speak to me." Rimânez turned instinctively at her request, and with his own peculiar charm and gallant grace of bearing, came to the side of the paralysed lady, and taking her hand, kissed it. "Your face seems familiar to me,"--she said, speaking now, as it seemed, with greater ease--"Have I ever met you before?"