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THE BARONESS'S MATCHMAKING.
The Prince Zilah met his guests with easy grace, on the deck in front of the foot-bridge.

He had a pleasant word for each one as they came on board, happy and smiling at the idea of a breakfast on the deck of a steamer, a novel amusement which made these insatiable pleasure-seekers forget the fashionable restaurants and the conventional receptions of every day.
"What a charming thought this was of yours, Prince, so unexpected, so Parisian, ah, entirely Parisian!" In almost the same words did each newcomer address the Prince, who smiled, and repeated a phrase from Jacquemin's chronicles: "Foreigners are more Parisian than the Parisians themselves." A smile lent an unexpected charm to the almost severe features of the host.

His usual expression was rather sad, and a trifle haughty.

His forehead was broad and high, the forehead of a thinker and a student rather than that of a soldier; his eyes were of a deep, clear blue, looking directly at everything; his nose was straight and regular, and his beard and moustache were blond, slightly gray at the corners of the mouth and the chin.