lad
when the prince gave way.

The weather had remained delightful: a mild sun in a blue sky. The
landscape stretched wide, the mountains stood shrill and steep, pointing
their ice-laden crests into the ether. The drive had all the charm of an
incognito free from etiquette, with the prince, in his undress uniform,
seated beside the duchess, in a simple, dark gown of mauve corduroy
velvet, in the elegant, light victoria, on which the coachman sat alone,
without a footman, setting the two slender bays briskly about. The sun
gleamed in patches over the horses' sleek hides and cast its reflections
in the varnish of the carriage, in the facets of the cut-glass lamps, on
the coachman's tall hat and in the buttons of Othomar's uniform. All
this sparkle scintillated with short, bright flashes; and thus, lightly
flickering, the carriage glided along the road, through a couple of
villages, whose inhabitants saluted their duchess, but did not know who
the simple young officer was, sitting beside her. A breeze had dried
away the dampness of the preceding days and light clouds of dust blew up
from under the quick-rolling wheels.

The duchess talked fluently, of Lipara, the emperor, the empress. She
possessed the tact of knowing intuitively what to say and what to speak
about, when she was anxious to please. Her voice was a charm. She was
sometimes capable of great simplicity and naturalness, generally when
she was not thinking of making an impression. Intuitively she assumed
towards the prince, to make him like her, that same simplicity which was
her nature. It made her seem years younger: the smart brusqueness that
was in fashion flattered her much less and made her appear older and
even vulgar, whereas now she grew refined in the natural distinction of
an ancient race. The little black veil on her hat hid the ugly wrinkles
about her eyes, which gleamed through it like stars.

The prince remembered stories told by his equerries--including
Dutri--about the duchess; he remembered names mentioned in a whisper. He
did not at this minute believe in these slanders, as he considered them
to be. Sensible as he was to sympathy, he was won over by hers, which he
read in her intuitively; and it made him think well and kindly of her,
as he thought of all who liked him.

The carriage had been going between terraces of vineyards, when
suddenly, as though by surprise, it drove past a castle, half-visible
through some very ancient chestnut-tre