I saw a precipice at my feet. I could not
tell her that in making her a Princess I was making Gretchen free. I
could not confess that my motive was purely a selfish one.
"It was a duty," said I, evasively.
"And in what way will it concern the Princess Hildegarde's affairs--and
yours?" She was rather merciless.
"Why should it concern any affair of mine?" I asked.
"You love her, and she loves you; may she not abdicate in my favor?"
"And if she should?" with an accent of impatience.
Phyllis grew silent. "Forgive me, Jack!" impulsively. "But all this
is scarcely to be believed. And then you say there are no proofs."
"Not in the eyes of the law," I replied; "but nature has written it in
your faces." I was wondering why she had not gone into raptures at the
prospect of becoming a Princess.
"It is a great honor," she said, after some meditation, "and it is very
kind of you. But I care as little for the title as I do for this
rose." And she cast away one of Pembroke's roses. It boded ill for my
cousin's cause.
Presently we saw the giver of the rose loom up in the doorway.
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