But the Princess heard him.
"Of course you will," she said gaily; "I love him, therefore so will you!"
"An agreeable princess—I shall get on well with her!" thought Johann Pyrmont. Then the attention of his companion flagged and she was silent and distrait for a little, as they paced through courts and colonnades which to the secretary seemed interminable. The Princess silently indicated the way by a pressure upon his arm which was almost more than friendly.
"We walk well together," she said presently, rousing herself from her reverie.
"Yes," answered the secretary, who was thinking that surely it was a long way to the summer parlour, where he was to meet the Prince.
"I fear," said the Princess Margaret quaintly, "that you are often in the habit of walking with ladies! Your step agrees so well with mine!"
"I never walk with any others," the secretary answered without thought.
"What?" cried the Princess, quickly taking away her hand, "and you swore to me even now that you never helped a lady from her horse in your life!"
It was an impasse, and the secretary, recalled to himself, blushed deeply.
"I see so few ladies," he stammered, in a tremor lest he should have betrayed himself. "I live in the country—only my maid——"