Page:Stevenson - Prince Otto. A Romance.djvu/292

 to be a loser. I propose instead that you should take me with you, a bear in chains, to Baron Gondremark. I am become perfectly unscrupulous: to save my wife I will do all, all he can ask or fancy. He shall be filled; were he huge as leviathan and greedy as the grave, I will content him. And you, the fairy of our pantomime, shall have the credit.’

‘Done!’ she cried. ‘Admirable! Prince Charming no longer—Prince Sorcerer, Prince Solon! Let us go this moment. Stay,’ she cried, pausing. ‘I beg dear Prince, to give you back these deeds. ’Twas you who liked the farm—I have not seen it; and it was you who wished to benefit the peasants. And, besides,’ she added, with a comical change of tone, ‘I should prefer the ready money.’

Both laughed. Here I am, once more a farmer,’ said Otto, accepting the papers, ‘but overwhelmed in debt.’

The Countess touched a bell, and the Governor appeared.

‘Governor,’ she said, ‘I am going to elope with his Highness. The result of our talk has been a thorough understanding, and the coup d’état is over. Here is the order.’

Colonel Gordon adjusted silver spectacles upon his nose. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘the Princess: