t would have taken
little more to bring Gordon to her feet--or so, at least, she believed,
disdaining the idea.

Hidden among some lilac bushes, she enjoyed the great decorum of the
arrest, and heard the dialogue of the two men die away along the path.
Soon after, the rolling of a carriage and the beat of hoofs arose in the
still air of the night, and passed speedily farther and fainter into
silence. The Prince was gone.

Madame von Rosen consulted her watch. She had still, she thought, time
enough for the tit-bit of her evening; and hurrying to the palace, winged
by the fear of Gondremark's arrival, she sent her name and a pressing
request for a reception to the Princess Seraphina. As the Countess von
Rosen unqualified, she was sure to be refused; but as an emissary of the
Baron's, for so she chose to style herself, she gained immediate entry.

The Princess sat alone at table, making a feint of dining. Her cheeks
were mottled, her eyes heavy; she had neither slept nor eaten; even her
dress had been neglected. In short, she was out of health, out of looks,
out of heart, and hag-ridden by her conscience. The Countess drew a
swift comparison, and shone brighter in beauty.

'You come, madam, _de la part de Monsieur le Baron_,' drawled the
Princess. 'Be seated! What have you to say?'

'To say?' repeated Madame von Rosen, 'O, much to say! Much to say that I
would rather not, and much to leave unsaid that I would rather say. For
I am like St. Paul, your Highness, and always wish to do the things I
should not. Well! to be categorical--that is the word?--I took the
Prince your order. He could not credit his senses. "Ah," he cried "dear
Madame von Rosen, it is not possible--it cannot be I must hear it from
your lips. My wife is a poor girl misled, she is only silly, she is not
cruel." "_Mon Prince_," said I, "a girl--and therefore cruel; youth
kills flies."--He had such pain to understand it!'

'Madame von Rosen,' said the Princess, in most steadfast tones, but with
a rose of anger in her face, 'who sent you here, and for what purpose?
Tell your errand.'

'O, madam, I believe you understand me very well,' returned von Rosen.
'I have not your philosophy. I wear my heart upon my sleeve, excuse the
indecency! It is a very little one,' she laughed, 'and I so often change
the sleeve!'

'Am I to understand the Prince has been arrested?' asked the Princess,
rising.

'While you sat there dining!' cried the Co