Page:Stevenson - Prince Otto. A Romance.djvu/180

 run, as if with the last of his endurance, laid the bag upon the ground, threw himself upon the bench, and disclosed the features of Madame von Rosen.

‘You, Countess!’ cried the Prince.

‘No, no,’ she panted, ‘the Count von Rosen—my young brother. A capital fellow. Let him get his breath.’

‘Ah, madam …’ said he.

‘Call me Count,’ she returned, ‘respect my incognito.’

‘Count be it, then,’ he replied. ‘And let me implore that gallant gentleman to set forth at once on our enterprise.’

‘Sit down beside me here,’ she returned, patting the further corner of the bench. ‘I will follow you in a moment. O, I am so tired—feel how my heart leaps! Where is your thief?’

‘At his post,’ replied Otto. ‘Shall I introduce him? He seems an excellent companion.’

‘No,’ she said, ‘do not hurry me yet. I must speak to you. Not but I adore your thief; I adore any one who has the spirit to do wrong. I never cared for virtue till I fell in love with my Prince.’ She laughed musically. ‘And even so, it is not for your virtues,’ she added.

Otto was embarrassed. ‘And now,’ he asked, ‘if you are anyway rested?’