“Myhealth，“hesaid，“wasneverbetter。Itistruethatyourcomingwassomewhatofasurprise，“headded，lookingsteadilyatMr。Sabin。“Iunderstoodthatyouhadgoneforashortjourney，andIwasnotexpectingtoseeyoubackagainsosoon。“
“Duson，“Mr。Sabinsaid，“hastakenthatshortjourneyinstead。
Itwasratheraliberty，butheleftaletterformefullyexplaininghismotives。Icannotblamehim。“
ThePrincestrokedhismoustache。
“Ah！“heremarked。“Thatisapity。Youmay，however，finditpolitic，evennecessary，tojoinhimveryshortly。“