And a herald cried: "Her Royal Highness the Princess Flavia!" She curtsied low, and put her hand under mine and raised my hand and kissed it.

And for an instant I thought what I had best do.

Then I drew her to me and kissed her twice on the cheek, and she blushed red, and--then his Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop slipped in front of Black Michael, and kissed my hand and presented me with a letter from the Pope--the first and last which I have received from that exalted quarter! And then came the Duke of Strelsau.

His step trembled, I swear, and he looked to the right and to the left, as a man looks who thinks on flight; and his face was patched with red and white, and his hand shook so that it jumped under mine, and I felt his lips dry and parched.

And I glanced at Sapt, who was smiling again into his beard, and, resolutely doing my duty in that station of life to which I had been marvellously called, I took my dear Michael by both hands and kissed him on the cheek.