"
"No, I should not have wronged them, but," said the Princess rising, "I
should have wronged my people whom I have sworn to protect; I should
have wronged my own sense of honor; I should have broken those ties
which I have sworn to hold dear and precious as my life; I should have
forsaken a sacred duty for something I was not sure of--a man's love!"
"Gretchen!"
"Am I cruel? Look!" Phyllis stood at the other end of the
conservatory. "Does not there recur to you some other woman you have
loved? You start. Come; was not your love for Gretchen pique? Who is
she who thus mirrors my own likeness? Whoever she is, she loves you!
Let us return; I shall be missed." It was not the woman but the
Princess who spoke.
"You are breaking two hearts!" I cried, my voice full of
disappointment, passion and anger.
"Two? Perhaps; but yours will not be counted."
"You are--"
"Pray, do not lose your temper," icily; and she swept toward the
entrance.
I had lost.
As the Princess drew near to Phyllis the brown eyes of the one met the
blue-green eyes of the other. There was almost an exclamation on
Phyllis's lips; there was almost a question on Gretchen's; both paled.
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