At half-past ten she joined him at the bottom of the Casino steps. The shingly beach was deserted, but on the terrace above the throng was great, owing to the breathless heat of the night.
"Thank Heaven you have come," said he. "Do you know how I have longed for you?"
She glanced up wistfully into his face. In her simple cream dress and burnt straw hat adorned with white roses around the brim, she looked very fair and childlike.
"You mustn't say such things," she whispered. "They are wrong now. I am engaged to be married."
"I won't hear of it," said Somerset. "It is a horrible nightmare--your engagement. Don't you know that I love you? I loved you the first minute I set my eyes on you at Spa."
Princess Ottilie sighed, and they walked along the boards behind the bathing-machines, and down the rattling beach to the shelter of a fishing boat, where they sat down, screened from the world with the murmuring sea in front of them. Somerset talked of his love and the hatefulness of Bernheim. The little Princess sighed again.
"I have worse news still," she said. "It will pain you. We are going to Paris to-morrow, and then on to Aix-les-Bains. They have just decided. They say the baccarat here is silly, and they might as well play for bon-bons. So we must say good-bye to-night--and it will be good-bye for always."
"I will come to Aix-les-Bains," said Somerset.
"No--no," she answered quickly. "It would only bring trouble on me and do no good. We must part to-night. Don't you think it hurts me?"
"I do," she said simply, "and that is why it hurts. Now I must be going back."
"Ottilie," said Somerset, grasping her hands: "Need you ever go back?"
"Come away from this hateful place with me--now, this minute. You need never see Bernheim again as long as you live. Listen. My friend Ross has a motor-car. I can manage it--so there will be only us two. Run into your hotel for a thick cloak, and meet me as quickly as you can behind the tennis-courts. If we go full speed we'll catch the night-boat at Dieppe. It will be a wild race for our life happiness. Come."
In his excitement he rose and pulled her to her feet. They faced each other for a few glorious moments, panting for breath, and then Princess Ottilie broke down and cried bitterly.