"It is not even a dot! It is nothing at all, a year's income, a trifle." "Nevertheless," Jeanne said calmly, "it is all that I possess.

You see," she continued, "I have come back to my stepmother to tell her that if I am bound by law to do as she wishes until I am of age, I will be dutiful and marry the man whom she chooses for me, but I wish to tell you two things quite frankly.

The first you have just heard.

The second is that I do not care for you in the least, that in fact I rather dislike you." The Princess buried her head in her hands.

She was not anxious to look at any one just then, or to be looked at.