Page:Stevenson - Prince Otto. A Romance.djvu/173

 with scandal; and down at the farther end the gamblers gambled. It was towards this point that Otto moved, not ostentatiously, but with a gentle insistence, and scattering attentions as he went. Once abreast of the card-table, he placed himself opposite to Madame von Rosen, and, as soon as he had caught her eye, withdrew to the embrasure of a window. There she had speedily joined him.

‘You did well to call me,’ she said, a little wildly. ‘These cards will be my ruin.’

‘Leave them,’ said Otto.

‘I!’ she cried, and laughed; ‘they are my destiny. My only chance was to die of a consumption; now I must die in a garret.’

‘You are bitter to-night,’ said Otto.

‘I have been losing,’ she replied. ‘You do not know what greed is.’

‘I have come, then, in an evil hour,’ said he.

‘Ah, you wish a favour!’ she cried, brightening beautifully.

‘Madam,’ said he, ‘I am about to found my party, and I come to you for a recruit.’

‘Done,’ said the Countess. ‘I am a man again.’

‘I may be wrong,’ continued Otto, ‘but I believe upon my heart you wish me no ill.’

‘I wish you so well,’ she said, ‘that I dare not tell it you.’