Page:Stevenson - Prince Otto. A Romance.djvu/290

 hopes,’ he pleaded. ‘Tell me, dearest Madame von Rosen, tell me! You cannot be cruel: it is not in your nature. Give? I can give nothing; I have nothing; I can only plead in mercy.’

‘Do not,’ she said; ‘it is not fair. Otto, you know my weakness. Spare me. Be generous.’

‘O, madam,’ he said, ‘it is for you to be generous, to have pity.’ He took her hand and pressed it; he plied her with caresses and appeals. The Countess had a most enjoyable sham siege, and then relented. She sprang to her feet, she tore her dress open, and, all warm from her bosom, threw the order on the floor.

‘There!’ she cried. ‘I forced it from her. Use it, and I am ruined!’ And she turned away as if to veil the force of her emotions.

Otto sprang upon the paper, read it, and cried out aloud. ‘O, God bless her!’ he said, ‘God bless her.’ And he kissed the writing.

Von Rosen was a singularly good-natured woman, but her part was now beyond her. ‘Ingrate!’ she cried; ‘I wrung it from her, I betrayed my trust to get it, and ’tis she you thank!’

‘Can you blame me?’ said the Prince. ‘I love her.’

‘I see that,’ she said. ‘And I?’

‘You, Madame von Rosen? You are my dearest, my kindest, and most generous of