"And now," said the Princess Elsa, drawing Patsy down on a sofa by the window, "let me look at you that I may see what it is that sets all the men agate to be carrying you off, and fighting duels about you. I suppose a woman cannot always tell, just because she is a woman. But I can see that you are vivid with life. You shine like a black pearl--"
Patsy drew in her breath sharply at the word.
"That was what he called me," she said nervously, looking about the room as if she expected her sometime captor to appear.
"He? Who? That wretch of a Lyonesse? Do not trouble your pretty head. He will not come near Hanover Lodge--neither he nor any of his brothers, except perhaps poor Billy."
The Princess did not further embarrass Patsy by prolonging her inspection. She began to talk of Galloway and of the people whom Patsy knew. Nothing loath was Patsy to pour out her soul on such a subject. This was Uncle Julian's Princess, and though she seemed older than she had anticipated--fairy princesses should at least always remain slim--she had all the gracefully placid beauty and the exquisite manners she had looked forward to.
Patsy told of Louis Raincy and his grandfather--of Castle Raincy and the four hundred-year-old feud between the Raincys and the Ferrises. She told the story of her rescue, and how Stair had shot the Duke, while Louis kept the horses to be ready for the return.
"And what is this Stair Garland?" the Princess asked. "The son of a yeoman, and not the eldest son. Ah, I understand--the cadet, the adventurous one. We have some such in our armies, and many more in the Austrian service. Perhaps we will send your Stair to wear the white uniform. It would become him rarely. And which of the two do you like the best?"
The last question was unexpected, but it was not a habit of Patsy's to be embarrassed--at least, not for long.
"Oh," she said crisply, "these are only two--there are others, and so far I have felt no desire to make any choice. I foresee that if the malady takes me, I am more likely to run away with the man than he with me. Uncle Ju says that is the way with our family. I am really more like my mother's people than the Ferrises--so at least every one says."
"Did not your father run away with an earl's daughter from the door of some ball-room?" the Princess asked.