"Why, no," said Bert, looking greatly disturbed; "that room ain't ours any longer. Mr. Corney lives there now, and I—I sleep in the corner under the stairs."
"So you want me to come home to a corner under the stairs!" cried Prin sharply. "Well, you are a nice brother!"
Bert was taken aback by her turning upon him in this fashion. Tears of disappointment sprang to his eyes.
"No, I didn't mean that exactly," he said; "but tell me about yourself, Prin. Why did you never write to me again? And how came you to leave that nice home in the country with the lady who kept cows, and where you used to ride about in a carriage every day?"
"A carriage!" exclaimed Prin, with a laugh. "Why, it was the milk-cart! I did not know the difference then, but I do now."
"But how?" questioned Bert.
"Oh, I can't tell you everything," exclaimed Prin impatiently, "you'd never understand. Mrs. Hamblyn isn't a lady exactly. She has charge of one of Lord Ravenscourt's dairies, and lives in a pretty cottage close by. Mrs. Thornton, the lady who came to see me when I was ill, sent me to her, and she was very good to me; but after a while Lord Ravenscourt's family came to the Park, and I got to know the children, and I used to play with them in the hay, and they took a great fancy to me, especially the eldest, Lady Millicent, who is very ill. She would send for me when she was too ill to go out; she liked me to talk to her and amuse her, and when they were all coming to London to see the Jubilee, the children wanted me to come too, and Lady Ravenscourt said she would take me. Wasn't that a bit of luck for me?"
"Yes, indeed," said Bert wistfully. "Why, Prin, you're a lady yourself now."
He had closely observed Prin while she talked. He noted that she had grown taller and prettier than ever. She was dressed very neatly, but in finer material than he had ever known her wear before. Her gown was daintily finished with frills at neck and wrists. To Bert's inexperienced eye the Princess appeared very like the real article.
"Not I," she cried, with a flash of scorn for his ignorance in her eyes. "I only wish I were! You've no idea what it is to be a lady. The lovely things that Lady Millicent has! Her father just dotes on her, and he is for ever giving her presents, though she is too ill to care about them. He has given her a little jewelled watch, and a diamond star, and a musical box, and she hardly cares to look at them. She'd give them to me if I asked her for them, I verily believe."