"Not only possible, but probable. She is a Princess; at least she should be."
Then I told him what I knew about Phyllis.
"America! Born in America! It cannot be." He was baffled.
"I have known her for eight years," said I. "She was born in America as certainly as I was."
"But this likeness? This rumor of another daughter? Ah, there is something here I do not understand. And this uncle of hers, this Wentworth; who is he?"
"A retired banker, very wealthy, and at present with the American ministry at your own capital."
"To him we must go, then." He rose and walked the length of the room, stopped a moment at the chess table in the corner, then resumed his chair. "You are wondering, no doubt, what it is to me, all this?"
"I confess you have read my mind correctly."
"Then listen. I am a Prince without a principality; a Prince by courtesy, my brother ruling the principality of Wortumborg. Thus being without a principality, I am necessarily without revenues. I must replenish my very low exchequer by a marriage, a marriage not so distasteful as it might be." He met my darkening eyes with serenity. "Since Thursday night I have not been so certain of my wife's dowry. If there are two Princesses, twins, they must govern jointly, or one may abdicate in favor of the other. Her Serene Highness the Princess Hildegarde is the one who will be most likely to relinquish her claims to Hohenphalia. If your friend is proved to be her sister—" He stroked the orchid reflectively.
"Well?" I cried, my pulse quickening.