They had gone to the Aberg to tea, and the Princess had expressed herself too tired to walk back, and had got into the waiting carriage, making Cranley Beaton accompany her.

She was not in a perfectly amiable temper.

Lord Fordyce attracted her strongly, and it was plain to be seen he had only eyes for Sabine--who cared for him not at all.

The Princess found Cranley Beaton absolutely tiresome--no better than the _New York Herald_, she thought pettishly, or the _Continental Daily Mail_--to be with! The waters were getting on her nerves, too; she would be glad to leave and go to Sorrento with that Cupid among infants, Girolamo.

Sabine had better divorce her horror of a husband, and marry the man and have done with it! Now the walk from the Aberg down through the woods is a peculiarly delightful one and, even in the season at Carlsbad, not over-crowded by people.