"I am sorry, I was going to propose a ride to Shesaks Towers to-morrow."
"I'm afraid that must be a pleasure deferred, Princess."
"For how long, until you are too old to climb properly?"
She smiled her question, and my heart went right through the floor; but I managed to answer her smile and say lightly:
"I hope before then, in fact I am thinking of asking Landsberg to take my place and let me have his."
"God forbid, your Majesty," said that young man, looking at Sonia.
"Oh, I don't mean now, Landsberg."
A remark which caused laughter and enabled me to recover; it also changed the subject.
I own to being small-minded and ridiculous, but I felt piqued at the apparent indifference with which Irma greeted the news of our departure, and so, to add to my folly, instead of going into the garden after dinner, I proposed a game of billiards to the Prince, and he, thinking no doubt that I meant it, fell in with the suggestion, so that instead of spending my last evening in the company of Irma, a good deal of it was spent knocking silly ivory or bonzoline balls about with a silly piece of wood.
Mr. Neville came in after we had played for some time, and remarked that it was a most lovely night, that it was as fine a moon as we had had that year, or something like that. Every remark was a hint that we had played long enough, but I refused to see, or pay any attention, until at last he said: