"I do not disbelieve you," said Ellerey quietly.

The girl relented in a moment.

"We should be very good friends, you and I, if we knew each other. You
have ambition. I can see it in your face."

"I had, Princess."

"Hush, no one calls me that here. Why do you say you had ambition?"

"You would not understand."

"Try me and see," she said, standing close beside him as though to
measure her strength against his for a moment. "You may trust me. I
would trust you anywhere, in peace or war."

Ellerey looked at her curiously for an instant, with a sudden desire
to take her into his confidence. Then he shook his head slowly. It was
pleasant to hear such faith expressed in him, and he was unwilling to
destroy the faith of this fair woman. Altogether a woman she seemed
to him just then.

"You will not. Never mind, perhaps one day you will. Only never speak
of ambition as something past. That is weak and unmanly."

"Upon my honor, you do me good," Ellerey exclaimed.

"And you me," she answered eagerly. "To look at you makes me feel