She was standing very still in the shadow of an ivy-grown pillar, looking up at the Pole star and wondering if he in his wanderings might not be looking at it too, when a man’s voice close beside her made her jump.  It was an unfamiliar voice.  “Star-gazing?” it said, pleasantly.  She turned, and recognized the King.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” she answered.  At first she thought she was going to be frightened.  Then she remembered the Secret, and before she knew it she was deep in conversation with the King.

As she talked, a puzzled expression she could not see came into the King’s face.  He had a wonderful memory for names, a memory which seldom failed him; but he couldn’t place this girl.  And it was dark, too, so he couldn’t see her.  But he liked to hear her talk.  She had that rare thing, in his experience, a fresh, sweet view-point.  The bloom of enchantment was still on life for her, and as he drew her out, he found that she was refreshing him as nothing had done for a weary while.

Then, kingly obligation called him indoors to join the throng whose everlasting sameness palled on him almost unendurably.  Something he said made Mary Alice feel this—­made her see, as in a flash, a girl who had gone home, once, from a party and wept because life was so dull.  She was sorry for the King!

“I seldom forget a name,” he said, “but I—­before we go in, won’t you please remind me of yours?”

Mary Alice laughed.  “Your Majesty has never heard my name,” she said, “and I can’t go in; I’m not of the party.”  And she explained.

“I see,” he said.  “I shall have to thank the Duchess.  I have had a most refreshing quarter of an hour.”

“I’m glad,” said Mary Alice, simply.  “I felt afraid, at first—­as nearly everybody does, I suppose.  And then I thought how dreadful that must be—­to have every one afraid of you, when you’re really a very nice, gentle person—­I mean——!  Well, I guess Your Majesty knows what I mean.  And then I remembered my Secret——­”

“Secret?”

And so, of course, she had to tell.  It was rather a long story, hurry as she would, because the King interrupted with so many questions.  But she wouldn’t tell what the Secret was until “the very last thing.”

“Um,” said the King, when she had finally divulged it.  That was all he said; but the way he said it made Mary Alice know that the Secret was right.

XI

A MEETING AND A PARTING

The next day was full of activities which kept the house guests far afield.  But Mary Alice had an exciting day at home; for the King had spoken to the Duchess about her and asked to have her presented to him that evening.

The Duke and Duchess had spent a fortune on the entertainment of their King; had provided for his beguiling every costly diversion that could be thought of.  But they had not been able to give him anything new, and they felt that he was enduring the visit amiably rather than actually enjoying it.  It remained, apparently, for the Girl from Nowhere to give him real pleasure.