The Princess Virginia

"Open the others for me, dear," she demanded, excitedly, "while I see what Dal has to say." And Virginia leisurely obeyed, wondering whether Dal's news would by-and-by be passed on to her. It was always an event when a long letter came from him; and the Grand Duchess invariably laughed and exclaimed, and sometimes blushed as she read; but when she blushed, the letter was not given to the Crown Prince's sister.

There was a note to-day from an old friend of her mother's of whom Virginia was fond, and she had just begun to be interested in the third paragraph, all about an adorable Dandy Dinmont puppy, when an odd, half-stifled ejaculation from the Grand Duchess made the girl lift her eyes.

"Has Dal been having something beyond the common in the way of adventures?" she inquired dryly.

Her mother did not answer