nly been a little stronger, she would have been so too!
What mattered to them the disfavour of her uncle the emperor, so long as
they loved each other? What the fury of their parents, so long as they
loved each other? What did they care for all Europe, so long as they
cared for each other? Nothing, nothing at all.... If he had only dared
to grasp happiness for them, when it fluttered before them, as it
flutters only once before mortal men! But he had not dared, he felt
himself too weak to risk that grasp, he acknowledged it himself.... And
now ... now it was over, over, over....

As she sobbed she rowed on. Her arms seemed to swell, to burst asunder.
A few thick drops of rain fell. What was she really rowing on for? The
sea meant death, release from life, oblivion, the extinction of
scorching pain. Then why did she row on?

"O God, I don't know!" she answered herself aloud. "But I must! I
must!..."

And with successive jerks of her strong imperial body she worked herself
back, towards life....

But at Altseeborgen they were in great alarm. It was three hours since
Valerie had left the castle. The maid was unable to say more than that
her highness had assured her she would be back to breakfast. The
sentries had seen her go down the terraces, but had paid no further heed
to the direction which her highness had taken. They thought it was
towards the woods, but they were not sure....

Every minute the alarm increased; no suspicion was uttered, but they all
read it in one another's eyes. King Siegfried ordered that they should
themselves set out and search quietly, so as to attract no attention
among the household and the people of the village. There could be no
question of her having lost her way: the pine-woods were not extensive
and Valerie knew Altseeborgen well. And there was nothing besides the
woods, the beach and the village.

The king and the crown-prince themselves went into the woods, with an
equerry. Herman and his younger brother Olaf went into the village, to
the left; Othomar and Christofel along the sea, to the right. The queen
remained behind with the princesses, in palpitating uncertainty. For all
their efforts to bear up and to eat their breakfasts, a sort of rumour
had already spread through the castle.

Othomar had gone with Christofel along the rocky shore; the rain began
to come down, in hard, thick drops.

"What are we really looking for here?" asked Othomar, helplessly.

"Perhaps she has t