Page:The Prisoner of Zenda.djvu/151

Rh "Oh, if you were not the king! Then I could show you how I love you! How is it that I love you now, Rudolf?"

"Now?"

"Yes—just lately. I—I never did before." Pure triumph filled me. It was I—Rudolf Rassendyll—who had won her I caught her round the waist.

"You didn't love me before?" I asked.

She looked up into my face, smiling, as she whispered:

"It must have been your crown. I felt it first on the coronation day."

"Never before?" I asked eagerly.

She laughed low.

"You speak as if you would be pleased to hear me say 'Yes' to that," she said.

"Would 'Yes 'be true?"

"Yes," I just heard her breathe, and she went on in an instant: "Be careful, Rudolf; be careful, dear. He will be mad now."

"What, Michael? If Michael were the worst——"