“Then why do you say I overestimate it?” he asked, relentlessly.

“Because you do,” she exclaimed, at bay.

“Are you a competent judge?”

“What do you mean?” she asked, grasping for time.

“I mean, have you the right to question my power, as you call it?  Have I attempted to exert it over you?”

“You are talking nonsense, Phil,” she said, spiritedly.

“I said I’d feel sorry for the girl if she didn’t happen to love me, you know.  Well, I couldn’t force her to love me if she didn’t love me, could I?”

“Certainly not.  That is what I meant,” she cried, immensely relieved.

“But my point is that she might love me without knowing it and would simply have ta be brought to the realization.”

“Oh,” she said, “that is different.”

“You take back what you said, then?” he asked, maliciously.

“If she loved you and did not know it, she’d be a fool and you could exert any kind of power over her.  You see, we didn’t quite understand each other, did we?”

“That is for you to say,” he said, smiling significantly.  “I think I understand perfectly.”

By this time they were opposite the Rue Lesbroussart, and he drove toward the Place Ste. Croix.  As they made the turn she gave a start and peered excitedly up the Avenue Louise, first in front of her companion, then behind.

“Oh, Phil, there is Ugo!” she cried, clasping his arm.  “See!  In the trap, coming toward us.”  He looked quickly, but the trees and houses now hid the other trap from view.

“Are you sure it is he?”

“Oh, I am positive.  He has come to surprise me.  Is there no way we can reach the house first?  By the rear—­anyway,” she cried, excitedly.  Her face was flushed, and her eyes were sparkling.

“Was he alone?” asked he, his jaw setting suddenly.

“That has nothing to do with it.  We must hurry home.  Turn back, Phil; we may be able to overtake him on the avenue.”

“I wanted to take you to the Park, Dorothy.”

“Well?”

“That’s all,” he went on, calmly.  “The prince can leave his card and call later in the—­well, this evening.”

“What—­you don’t mean—­Philip Quentin, take me home instantly,” she blazed.

“Not for all the princes in the universe,” he said.  “This is my afternoon, and I will not give up a minute of it.”

“But I command, sir!”

“And I refuse to obey.”

“Oh—­oh, this is outrageous——­” she began, frantically.

Suddenly his gloved left hand dropped from the reins and closed over one of hers.  The feverish clasp and the command in his eyes compelled her to look up into his face quickly.  There she saw the look she feared, admired, deserved.

“There was a time when you wanted to be with me and with no other.  I have not forgotten those days, nor have you.  They were the sweetest days of your life and of mine.  It is no age since I held this hand in mine, and you would have gone to the end of the world with me.  It is no age since you kissed me and called me a king.  It is no age since you looked into my eyes with an expression far different from the one you now have.  You remember, you remember, Dorothy.”