You would cease to look down on me were I of like rank with yourself; and this equality of station I shall yet attain." "I am sure I shall be the first to congratulate you." "The prince has promised to be a father to you if, as the result of a peaceful separation, he ceases to be your husband.

A somewhat similar promise he has made to me also." "Does he intend to adopt you as his son ?" asked Blanka.
"Such is his purpose," replied Vajdar.
"And what, pray, is his motive in this ?" Benjamin Vajdar averted his face, as if contending with feelings of shame.

"Do not ask me," he begged, "to betray the weakness of my poor mother.

Hers was an unhappy lot, and I am the child of her misfortune.
He whose duty it is to make that misfortune good is--Prince Cagliari." Blanka could hardly suppress an exclamation.

"Oh, you scoundrel!" she was on the point of crying, "how can you dishonour your mother in her grave, and deny your own honest birth, merely to pass yourself off as a prince's bastard son ?" Instead of this she clapped her hands and exclaimed: "How interesting! It is just like a play at the theatre.