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"Fool... or dummy!" he muttered.

"And the other one is not here. They've been telling tales," he

thought-referring to the little princess who was not in the

dining room.

"Where is the princess?" he asked. "Hiding?"

"She is not very well," answered Mademoiselle Bourienne with a

bright smile, "so she won't come down. It is natural in her

state."

"Hm! Hm!" muttered the prince, sitting down.

His plate seemed to him not quite clean, and pointing to a spot

he flung it away. Tikhon caught it and handed it to a footman.

The little princess was not unwell, but had such an overpowering

fear of the prince that, hearing he was in a bad humor, she had

decided not to appear.

"I am afraid for the baby," she said to Mademoiselle Bourienne:

"Heaven knows what a fright might do."