"No, no," I said, "it's not that. I didn't expect to find you anywhere—" I paused fearing that I was making a bungle.
"Perhaps I should not have let you come here," she said, the smile fading. "But somehow I cannot make a stranger of you. I seem to have known you a long time. But if you prefer that I entertain you in the drawing room—"
"Please do not," I hastened to say. "I like it very well here."
"You were a long time coming," she pouted.
"Yes," I said, "the butler took me into the Prince's apartments instead of yours, and your father talked me to death."
Even while the Princess laughed at my expression I fancied I heard the sound of a cough. Could it be that the Duke himself was listening behind one of the many doors? I must be more guarded in my conversation. Then again, a man's imagination will play him many tricks in a strange castle.
"He apologized, did he not?" asked the girl.
"Handsomely," I said.
"What did the Prince have to say?"
"Nothing much. He is so different from you."