The gate, too, was thrown back, giving a view of the courtyard, which wore rather the aspect of a garden.

Who could have wrought this sudden transformation in the deserted old mansion?
A still greater surprise awaited the princess when she reached her hotel.

The proprietor himself came down the steps to open her carriage door, assist her to alight, and escort her to her rooms.
"Thank you, sir, but pray don't trouble yourself," began Blanka.

"I can find my way very well alone." The innkeeper persisted, however, although the double doors to which he led her, and which he threw open before her, were not those of her own apartment.

The ladies found themselves in a sumptuously furnished anteroom, from which, through a half-opened door, they looked into a spacious drawing-room yet more luxuriously fitted up, with oil paintings on its walls and potted plants in its four corners.