“I am only beginning to remember you,” said he, slowly. “You never used to wear your hair in long ringlets thus. Even your figure is changed; you are taller, Kate.”
“It is the mere difference of dress, Frank,” said she, blushing with conscious pride.
“No, no; you are quite changed. Even as I sit here beside you, I feel I know not what of shame at my daring to be so near——”
“So great a lady, you would say, dear Frank,” said she, laughing. “Poor boy, if you knew—” She stopped, and then, throwing her arms around his neck, went on rapidly: “But, my own dear brother, tell me of yourself: are you happy; do you like the service; are they kind to you; is Uncle Stephen as we hoped he should be?”
“My story is soon told, Kate,” said he; “I am where I was the day I entered the army. I should have been made a corporal—”
“A corporal!” cried Kate, laughing.
“A good thing it is, too,” said the youth. “No guards to mount, no fatigue duty, neither night patrol nor watch, and four kreutzers extra pay.”
“Poor dear boy!” cried she, kissing his forehead, while she gazed on him with a compassionate affection that spoke a whole world of emotion.
“But tell me of yourself, Kate. Why do they call you the Princess?”
“Because I am married, Frank,——that is, I am betrothed, and will soon be married.”