"Ah, Dubravnik," he said. "I have been looking everywhere for you. Didn't know but you had gone. This is my friend Alexis Durnief. You've each heard me talk about the other, so you should be good friends."
"Captain Alexis Durnief?" I asked, shaking hands with him.
"The same," he replied. "Just returned from one of the far posts in Siberia, and I am very glad to be back here again. I haven't had an opportunity to greet the princess yet; you kept her in the garden so long."
I thought that he gave me a significant glance as he made the laughing remark, but as the princess herself joined us at that moment, I did not give it a second thought. He gave her his arm, and they went away together, leaving the prince and myself alone.
"I think, if you do not mind, I will go," I said. The house of Princess Zara had suddenly become hateful to me."
"What! At this hour? Why?" Prince Michael was amazed.
"Oh, there is no reason, other than that I feel like it," I told him, shrugging my shoulders and trying to look bored.
"Then stay. Some of the best people are not here, yet. Or did your half hour in the garden upset you, Dubravnik?" He essayed a light laughter as he asked the question, but it had a hollow sound, nevertheless.
"Not at all," I assured him.
"I can assure you that it is an honor which the princess confers upon very few of her friends, and never on new acquaintances. You are the only exception I have ever known," he added.