Page:Stevenson - Prince Otto. A Romance.djvu/289

 enviable situation, and the Countess instantly recovered from her outburst.

‘Poor child,’ she said, ‘poor child! Sit down beside me here, and tell me all about it. My heart really bleeds to see you. How does time go?’

‘Madam,’ replied the Prince, sitting down beside her, his gallantry recovered, ‘the time will now go all too quickly till you leave. But I must ask you for the news. I have most bitterly condemned myself for my inertia of last night. You wisely counselled me; it was my duty to resist. You wisely and nobly counselled me; I have since thought of it with wonder. You have a noble heart.’

‘Otto,’ she said, ‘spare me. Was it even right, I wonder? I have duties, too, you poor child; and when I see you they all melt—all my good resolutions fly away.’

‘And mine still come too late,’ he replied, sighing. ‘Oh, what would I not give to have resisted? What would I not give for freedom?’

‘Well, what would you give?’ she asked; and the red fan was spread; only her eyes, as if from over battlements, brightly surveyed him.

‘I? What do you mean? Madam, you have some news for me,’ he cried.

‘O, O!’ said madam dubiously.

He was at her feet. ‘Do not trifle with my