ips. But this
touching of her hand seemed to restore to the Princess her strength and
self-possession. By a hasty movement she released her hand and rose.

"Brother," she said, "is it customary to greet princesses in this style?
Be pleased to tell me, for you know I have been but little in the world,
and am, therefore, but little conversant with its forms."

"No, Louise, it is not customary," replied Frederick William, breathing
more freely; "but Count Schwarzenberg seems to suppose, that as your
favored lover he need not regard the laws of ceremony."

"As my favored lover?" asked the Princess, a blush suddenly suffusing her
brow and neck, while her blue eyes, usually so soft, sparkled with
indignation. "Did I hear aright? Did you actually say that to _me_,
brother, to your sister? Did you call this or any other man my favored
lover?"

"I only repeated the words made use of by Count John Adolphus von
Schwarzenberg in suing for your hand, sister. This gentleman affirms that
you have granted him more favor than was seemly in a modest maiden. And
when I doubted it he replied that he could prove it, for he possessed a
note, written with your own hand, in which you invited him to a
rendezvous by night."

"He said that!" cried the Princess. "He said that, and you did not kill
him on the spot?"

"I did not kill him," answered the Elector gravely and solemnly, "because
no one should die for the truth. And he maintains that he speaks the
truth: that by means of this letter of yours he can dishonor you and my
house in the eyes of the whole world. Say then, Louise, is it true; does
he actually possess such a letter?"

Charlotte Louise shuddered and tottered backward.

"Yes!" she breathed--"yes, he speaks the truth--he does possess such a
letter!"

"No!" cried the count, "he did not speak the truth! Oh, forgive me,
Princess, forgive me this slander, which my lips uttered, uttered in the
delirium of pain, love, and despair! I lied, Princess, you never wrote to
me, never! I said that in order to force your brother to give me your
hand, because I love you, Princess, you know not how dearly! Ah! you
little imagine with what fervor of devotion my soul clung to you, and what
you did that time when you mocked and betrayed me, treating me like a
despised beggar! That hour wrought a change in my whole nature! The most
sacred blossoms of my love had been crushed by you, and I trampled them
under foot and strove to bury my despair