o, creeping into my heart like the serpent
into Eden, destroyed it with the fire of burning love, and left me only
ashes."

* * * * *

"It was in the very first year of Don Juan's chancellorship that there
came to Valoro the son of a Grand Duke of one of the German States;
what brought him there I shall never know. He told me it was the sight
of my face in a picture, and the 'glamour of my virgin court,' but I
think rather it was the spirit of the adventurer, or the gamester,
which seeks for gain and counts not the cost to others. The Prince of
Rittersheim----"

"Rittersheim!" I exclaimed, interrupting her.

"Yes," she continued, "Adalbert, the eldest son of the Grand Duke of
Rittersheim, he who succeeded his father two years later.

"The Prince was, I think, the handsomest man I have ever seen, and I
think the wickedest. His tall fine presence, set off by a magnificent
uniform, was seen at every Court I held. At every Court ball he
claimed my hand for the first dance; as far as my lonely state allowed
he sought me at every opportunity, and I, like a fool, was flattered by
his attentions.

"Yes, to my sorrow, I began to love him.

"I had travelled but little; travelling was harder in those days; one
tour in Europe with my father, that was all.

"I had fondly imagined that my suitor was a free, unmarried man. The
first shock of his perfidy came when I learned he was not; but it came
too late--I loved him.

"Don Juan told me, as he was bound in duty and honour to tell me from
his position, that the Prince of Rittersheim was already married, but
was separated from his wife.

"At the very next opportunity I had of speaking to the Prince--it was
in a secluded part of the palace gardens, and the meetings were
connived at by one of my ladies, the Baroness of Altenstein--I asked
him plainly if he were married.

"This was apparently the opportunity he had been waiting for; he threw
himself at my feet, and in passionate terms declared his love for me.

"He had loved me from the first moment that he had seen my portrait, he
had loved me ten times more since he had seen the original.

"I stayed the torrent of his words and reminded him that he was married.

"Yes, he admitted he was married in name, but his marriage was no
marriage; he had separated from his wife by the direction of the Grand
Duke, his father--in this he spoke the truth, but the reason was far
different--his so-called