Page:Stevenson - Prince Otto. A Romance.djvu/118

 ‘Madam,’ said Otto, ‘I thought you were of that faction.’

‘I should be of yours, mon Prince, if you had one,’ she retorted. ‘Is it true that you have no ambition? There was a man once in England whom they call the kingmaker. Do you know,’ she added, ‘I fancy I could make a prince?’

‘Some day, madam,’ said Otto, ‘I may ask you to help make a farmer.’

‘Is that a riddle?’ asked the Countess.

‘It is,’ replied the Prince, ‘and a very good one too.’

‘Tit for tat. I will ask you another,’ she returned. ‘Where is Gondremark?’

‘The Prime Minister? In the prime-ministry, no doubt,’ said Otto.

‘Precisely,’ said the Countess; and she pointed with her fan to the door of the Princess’s apartments. ‘You and I, mon Prince, are in the ante-room. You think me unkind,’ she added. ‘Try me and you will see. Set me a task, put me a question; there is no enormity I am not capable of doing to oblige you, and no secret that I am not ready to betray.’

‘Nay, madam, but I respect my friend too much,’ he answered, kissing her hand. ‘I would rather remain ignorant of all. We fraternise