"Well, that's only to be expected, I suppose. But what about Drury--
eh?"
"They don't see very much of Dick. We only meet at night," she laughed,
poking the grass with her sunshade.
"And that you really must not do in future," I said firmly.
"Then I can go about with him in the daytime--eh?" she asked, looking up
imploringly into my face.
"My dear child," I said, "though I do not approve of it, yet how can I
debar you from any little flirtation, even though the Emperor would, I
know, be extremely angry if it came to his ears?"
"But it won't. I'm sure it won't, Uncle Colin, through you. You are
such a funny old dear."
"Well," I said reluctantly, "for my own part I would much prefer that
you invited your gentleman friend to the house, where Miss West could at
least play propriety. But only now and then--for recollect one fact
always, that you and he can never marry, however fond you may be of each
other. It is that one single fact which causes me pain."
Her hard gaze was fixed upon the broad expanse of blue sea before her.
I saw how grave she had suddenly become, and that in her great dark eyes
stood unshed tears.
Her chest heaved slowly and fell. She was filled with emotion which she
bravely repressed.
"Yes," she managed to murmur in a low whisper.
"It is too cruel. Because--"
"Because what?" I asked, in a sympathetic voice, bending towards her.
"Ah, don't ask me, Uncle Colin!" she said bitterly, her welling eyes
still fixed blankly upon the sea. "It is cruel because--because I love
Dick," she whispered in open confession.
"My little friend," I said, "I sympathise with you very deeply. It is,
I admit, a very bitter truth which I have been compelled to point out.
For that very reason I have been so much against your friendship with
young men. Drury is in ignorance of your true identity. He believes
you to be plain Miss Gottorp. But when I tell him the truth--"
"Ah, no!" she cried. "You will not tell him--you won't--will you?
Promise me," she urged. "I must, I know, one day find a way of breaking
the bond of love which exists between us. When--when--that--time--
comes--then we must part. But he must never know that I have deceived
him--he must never know that the reason we cannot be more than mere
friends is on account of my Imperial birth. No," she added bitterly,
"even though I love Dick so dearly and he loves me devotedly, I shall be
compelled to do something purposely in order that his love for me may
die." Then, sighing deeply, my dainty little companion implored: "You
will therefore promise me, Uncle Colin, that you will never--never,
under any circumstances, breathe a word to him of who I really am?"