s, madame, I loved you: I
saw in you a goddess, where others saw only a coquette. I adored you as
an innocent sacrifice to envy and malice; I saw a martyr's crown upon
your brow, and wished to change it for the myrtle-crown of marriage.
And my love and hopes are dust and ashes; it is enough to drive me
mad--enough to stifle me with rage and shame." Carried away by passion,
the prince ran wildly through the saloon, gasping for air, struggling
for composure, and now and then uttering words of imprecation and
despair.

Louise waited, in silence and resignation, the end of this stormy
crisis. She questioned her heart if this bitter hour was not sufficient
atonement for all her faults and follies; if the agony she now suffered
did not wipe out and extirpate the past.

The prince still paced the room violently. Suddenly, as if a new thought
had seized him, he remained standing in the middle of the saloon, and
looked at Louise with a strangely altered countenance. She had forgotten
for a moment the part she was condemned to play, and leaned, pale and
sad, against the window.

Perhaps he heard her sorrowful sighs--perhaps he saw her tears as they
rolled one by one from her eyes, and fell like pearls upon her small
white hands.

Anger disappeared from his face, his brow cleared, and as he approached
Louise his eyes sparkled with another and milder fire.

"Louise," he said, softly, and his voice, which had before raged like
a stormy wind, was now mild and tender--"Louise, I have divined your
purpose--I know all now. At first, I did not understand your words; in
my folly and jealousy I misconceived your meaning; you only wished to
try me, to see if my love was armed and strong, if it was as bold and
faithful as I have sworn it to be. Well, I stood the test badly,
was weak and faint-hearted; but forgive me--forgive me, Louise, and
strengthen my heart by confidence and faith in me."

He tried to take her hand, but she withdrew it.

"Must I repeat to your highness what I have said before? I do not
understand you. What do you mean?"

"Ah," said the prince, "you are again my naughty, sportive Louise. Well,
then, I will explain. Did you not say that you now love so truly, that
you have promised to become the wife of the man you love?"

"Yes, I said that, your highness."

"And I," said the prince, seizing both her hands and gazing at her
ardently--"I was so short-sighted, so ungrateful, as not to understand
you. The many sor