"Cannot you be persuaded to change your mind and stay with me?
Where could you find a more lovely view than this from your balcony here ?" "Or a more lovely hostess ?" said the girl, looking at her visitor with undisguised admiration and quite ignoring the landscape.
The Princess laughed, and as they now stood together on the balcony she put out her hands, pushed Jennie gently into the rocking-chair again, seating herself jauntily on its broad arm, and thus the two looked like a pair of mischievous schoolgirls, home at vacation time, thoroughly enjoying their liberty.
"There! You are now my prisoner, about to be punished for flattery," cried the Princess.

"I saw by the motion of the chair that you had just jumped up from it when I disturbed you, so there you are, back in it again.

What were you thinking about?
A rocking-chair lends itself deliciously to meditation, and we always dream of someone very particular as we rock." "I am no exception to the rule," sighed Jennie; "I was thinking of you, Princess." "How nice of you to say that; and as one good turn deserves another, here is proof that a certain young lady has been in my thoughts." As she spoke, the Princess took from her pocket an embossed case of Russian leather, opened it and displayed a string of diamonds, lustrous as drops of liquid light.
"I want you to wear these stones in remembrance of our diamond mystery--that is why I chose diamonds--and also, I confess, because I want you to think of me every time you put them on.

See how conceited I am! One does not like to be forgotten." Jennie took the string, her own eyes for a moment rivalling in brilliancy the sparkle of the gems; then the moisture obscured her vision and she automatically poured the stones from one hand to the other, as if their scintillating glitter hypnotized her.

She tried once or twice to speak, but could not be sure of her voice, so remained silent.