said that was a rather large place i do not think that i realized anything i replied i have never seen any such place in my life who are all these people those are some of the servants she answered some of the servants they came out with and in and greeted the home coming of the not with loud of welcome but with rippling murmurs of sympathy the princess was very pale and was visibly moved she spoke to one or two of the white headed stately personages and passed at once holding my hand under the great entrance there i found myself in an enormous hall a widow i i lighted a great echoing chamber with a stone roof whose white walls were hung with great and of the chase there were more servants and there more murmurs of welcome and subdued sympathy the princess walked almost to the great hearth and there she stopped before an elderly man who by his appearance and dress was apparently the head of the household to him she spoke in german i did not know very much of the language but i had enough knowledge of it to be able to follow her she said i wrote to you telling you of mrs the english lady who was so very kind to our dear princess whom you and i and all of us loved so dearly mrs has had a great loss since my saint was taken away her husband a gallant english soldier has fallen in an engagement with some hill tribes far away on the frontier of india she is quite alone in the world and i have persuaded her to come to me and be my dear adopted daughter will you make known to my people that mrs will remain here that she will live with me and as far s possible will take the place of princess i shall expect the same attention and courtesy to her as was freely and willingly given to my daughter i can never repay her for her past kindness but i shall regard any attention and any kindness that my people show in the future to mrs as an act of kindness and attention given personally to me to my surprise the major for such i imagined was his position dropped upon one knee and raised the hand of the princess to his lips then he stood up moved a step towards me knelt to me also and paid me the same act of homage i had never felt so strange in my whole life my english instinct was to say oh get up please don t do that again but when i saw that one by one all the principal servants came forward and the strange story of my life repeated the graceful act i perceived that it was but the usual custom of the house and realized that if i meant to live and with these people i must try to introduce no but must take my cue entirely from the manners and customs of the stately � and dignified of the little ceremony of home coming over the princess took me herself to the of apartments which she had ordered to be prepared for my reception i have put you in a of rooms quite near to mine she said to me not her rooms � those i could not give up even to you but they are quite near both to hers and to mine see this is your � your own private room into which nobody will come without your express invitation excepting yourself dear princess i broke out ah my dear i shall hope to come here very often but at the same time you must remember that i have my in my child s favorite apartment this shall be your and the more you ask me to come to it the more assured i shall be that i have been able to bring some measure of happiness and comfort into your young life this she said opening a door is your dressing room and this your bed chamber and that room beyond it is a chamber for your as she spoke she led the way into the little room she will be very warm here see she has only to turn that stove on or off to make the room as warm or as cool as she likes do you think she went on as if she were anxious to say as little about my surroundings as possible that your will prefer to remain with you for the present i think so i answered she is like her mistress a lonely soul she has no near relations and of her distant she knows little and cares to know less i think that all the affection of her life was upon my little if she wanted to go back to india i a widow would send her back at once but until she expresses a desire or until you plainly ask me to end her away i would like to keep her she is the last link with my past she understands my ways she understands me i have nobody in all the world except poor who can talk to me of the happy days that will never come back again i have nobody else in all the world excepting you princess from whom i can hope to receive any joy and comfort in the time to come you are very wide apart you two � the poor ignorant superstitious native woman and the high bom powerful rich noble lady and yet said the princess putting her arms round me and holding me very close to her and yet in spite of the difference between us we have one g eat bond in common � we are three desolate woman the strange story of my life chapter in a gilded cage after this there seemed 