ou see, I don't lose sight
of her so easily. As for you, you could only shut her up in Rome and
leave her there; but I knew how to go to work to rid ourselves of this
obstruction. The dogs of Jezebel were howling under her very windows,
when there came a man blundering on to the scene and spoiled
everything,--a man who is a man, who is more than a prince, a man from
top to toe, in short, who carried off the woman from Rome. I hoped they
would take flight to some foreign land, whence we might have obtained an
official announcement of her death. Of course it might not have been
true, but the fugitives would have changed their names, in all
probability, and an official certificate would have answered our
purpose. Did you receive Blanka's letter,--the one she wrote you from
Trieste in November?"

"No," replied the prince, much astonished at what he had just heard;
"and I recently sent to her, by Vajdar, her allowance of fifteen
thousand scudi for the current quarter."

"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the marchioness, "a most affectionate and devoted
foster-son you have there! Your letters pass through his hands and are,
according to your directions, opened by him. As to this last letter of
Blanka's, however, he must have forgotten to deliver it, and he counts
himself blameless if a remittance of fifteen thousand scudi, directed to
a person whose address cannot be found, goes astray. Really he has a
genius for roguery. But you needn't get angry with him. The money has
not gone out of the family: he spent it on diamonds for me. I learned
all about that letter, too, a month ago."

"And may I inquire what the princess wrote me?"

"She begs leave to discontinue the enjoyment of your bounty, and
announces her intention of marrying again; and to that end she declares
her purpose of embracing the religion of her betrothed."

"The most pleasing result of which will be the saving to me of sixty
thousand scudi a year, which I will henceforth bestow on you." The
speaker laid a caressing hand on the woman's shoulder.

"Don't touch me, sir!" cried the marchioness, drawing back. "If one
woman has had the spirit to say to you, 'There is your coronet and your
gold; pick them up. I need them no longer, for I am going to marry a
_man_, who shall be my lord and king,'--why, you may find that another
woman can do the same."

"But what would you have me do?" asked the other, helplessly; "follow
Blanka Zboroy's example and turn Protestant with you,