lle," he said, "I have been very patient for many years. Yet you
know very well my secret, and in your heart you know very well that I am
one of those who generally win the thing upon which they have set their
hearts. I have always loved you, Lucille, but never more than now.
Fidelity is admirable, but surely you have done your duty. He is an old
man, and a man who has failed in the great things of life. I, on the
other hand, can offer you a great future. Saxe Leinitzer, as you know,
is a kingdom of its own, and, Lucille, I stand well with the Emperor.
The Socialist party in Berlin are strong and increasing. He needs us.
Who can say what honours may not be in store for us? For I, too, am of
the Royal House, Lucille. I am his kinsman. He never forgets that. Come,
throw aside this restlessness. I will tell you how to deal with Brott,
and the publicity, after all, will be nothing. We will go abroad
directly afterwards."

"Have you finished?" she asked.

"You will be reasonable!" he begged.

"Reasonable!" She turned upon him with flashing eyes. "I wonder how
you ever dared to imagine that I could tolerate you for one moment as a
lover or a husband. Wipe it out of your mind once and for all. You are
repellent to me. Positively the only wish I have in connection with
you is never to see your face again. As for my duty, I have done it. My
conscience is clear. I shall leave this house to-day."

"I hope," the Prince said softly, "that you will do nothing rash!"

"In an hour," she said, "I shall be at the Carlton with my husband. I
will trust to him to protect me from you."

The Prince shook his head.

"You talk rashly," he said. "You do not think. You are forbidden to
leave this house. You are forbidden to join your husband."

She laughed scornfully, but underneath was a tremor of uneasiness.

"You summoned me from America," she said, "and I came... I was forced to
leave my husband without even a word of farewell. I did it! You set me
a task--I have accomplished it. I claim that I have kept my bond, that
I have worked out my own freedom. If you require more of me, I say that
you are overstepping your authority, and I refuse. Set the black cross
against my name if you will. I will take the risk."

The Prince came a little nearer to her. She held her own bravely enough,
but there was a look in his face which terrified her.

"Lucille," he said, "you force me to disclose something which I have
kept so far to myself. I wi