272 ANOTHER CHAPTER ON THE 



" ( Hum !' said the princess, flinging her cigar on the newspaper which 

 her chaplain was reading, f some poor student, I suppose/ " 



A few moments after this scene, St. Julien was surprised by an 

 invitation to sup with her highness the princess and her suite, for 

 they all sup together. Fancying himself about to be made a butt for 

 the company, he rejects the invitation with haughtiness, but at length 

 yielded to the entreaties of the landlord, who was alarmed lest the 

 princess should be offended in his house. 



To supper he accordingly goes, and here he meets with new food 

 for his curiosity. The princess is an accomplished linguist, a profound 

 metaphysician, a skilful logician, and a sprightly and witty conversa- 

 tionist. St Julien is insensibly weaned from his timidity and 

 suspicions by the frankness and good-nature of her manners. His 

 conversation pleases the princess, and he is forthwith enrolled among 

 her household as her private secretary. 



He had scarcely quitted the apartment of his new mistress, when 

 he felt his arm seized, as he was descending the staircase, by a pale, 

 melancholy-looking traveller, who, in the deep and solemn tone of a 

 man giving an invitation to his funeral, declared that he had some- 

 thing most important to communicate to him a service of a vast 

 nature to demand at his hands. Spite of his suspicions, St. Julien 

 resigned himself to listen to the disclosures of his mysterious 

 importuner ; whereupon he proceeded to give him the details of a 

 romantic adventure which had occurred between him arid a fair 

 inconnuc, whom he had met at a masqued ball at the opera, at Paris. 



" ' I have never (pursued the traveller) been able to obtain a sight of my 

 mysterious charmer until this moment, when I beheld her at one of the 

 windows of this hotel, and she is no other than the Princess Quintilia 

 Cavalcanti.' 



" ' Are you quite sure?' said St. Julien, almost stupified with amaze- 

 ment. 



" ' I have a sure proof of it/ said the traveller, drawing a very beautiful 

 watch from his bosom, and opening it ; ' look at this cipher ; are not these 

 the initials of Quintilia Cavalcanti, with the abbreviation, pea, that is, prin- 

 cipessa? a cursed abbreviation, which has long baffled my ingenuity/ 



" ' How came you by that watch?" said St. Julien. 



" ' By a singular mischance I took it in a mistake for my own from the 

 apartment of my fair inconnue, and several days had elapsed before I ob- 

 served the cipher engraved in the inside.' 



" ' Either I am dreaming/ said St. Julien, as he gazed upon the watch, 

 ' or I have just seen one quite similar in the hands of the lady you speak of/ 



" ' Open it, and you will find the name of Charles de Dortan ; in heaven's 

 name, do but open it !' 



" ' What am I to go and ask the princess to allow me to inspect her 

 watch ? and then what will you gain by that ?' 



" ' Oh, I would reproach her with her effrontery. I would teach her 

 that a man of honour, who has submitted to so many mysterious precau- 

 tions, is not to he treated in this way. 1 will unmask an infamous coquette, 

 or else she must keep her promises with me, and my mouth shall be for 

 ever sealed on the subject; for, after all, I still feel that I love her to dis- 

 traction/ 



" ' 1 wish you joy of the adventure/ said St. Julien, coldly; ( but for 

 my part I abhor such women !' 



" Here he was summoned to attend the princess to her carriage ; yield- 



