THE HEART OF PRINCESS OSRA 
 
 By ANTHONY HOPE 
 Author of "The Prisoner of Zenda" 
 
In Preparation 
 
 "PHROSO" 
 
 By the Author of this Volume 
 
THE HEART OF 
 
 PRINCESS OSRA 
 
 BY 
 
 ANTHONY HOPE 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 "The Prisoner of Zenda " The Dolly Dialogues" Etc. 
 
 WITH NUMEROUS FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRA TIONS 
 BY 
 
 H. C EDWARDS 
 
 flew l<?orfj anb lon&on 
 
 Frederick A* Stokes Company 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
Copyright, J895, J896 
 By A. H. Hawkins 
 
 Copyright, J896 
 By Frederick A. Stokes Company 
 
 Copyright, J895, J896 
 By S. S. McClure, Limited 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE. 
 
 L The Happiness of Stephen the Smith \ 
 
 IL The Wager of the Marquis de Merosailles 5J 
 III* The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse 79 
 
 IV* The Courtesy of Christian the High- 
 wayman too 
 
 V. The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein J3J 
 
 VL The Device of Giraido the Painter - J75 
 
 VIL The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbau 201 
 
 VIII, The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg 226 
 
 IX* The Victory of the Grand Duke of 
 
 Mittenheim 258 
 
 397335 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 44 * Kill him for me, then ; kill him for me ' " Frontispiece 
 
 414 Take her and be happy '" \\ 
 
 " Stephen stood on the threshold with his staff in his hand " 37 
 
 The physician receives Princess Osra - 56 
 
 44 4 Madame, if you will, you can do me a great service ' n 10 J 
 
 44 With either hand he drew a silver-mounted pistol " 1 14 
 
 44 She asked the officer why a throng of people hastened 
 
 to the city" 118 
 
 444 My lord, where is the Princess?"' - 160 
 
 44 He drove his sword into his body, and the Count gave 
 
 back before it " 165 
 
 44 He walked with his head down and his eyes on the ground " 17 \ 
 
 44 He took it and drained it " - 204 
 * On either side of it sat the priest of the village and the 
 
 Miller of Hofbau" 215 
 
 44 4 Forgive me, forgive me I'" - 252 
 
 44 A young man sprang up, and, with a low bow, drew 
 
 aside to let her pass " - 259 
 
 44 4 You are the beauty of the world,' he answered smiling " 263 
 
. 
 
The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 j 
 
 CHAPTERL 
 The Happiness of Stephen the Smith. 
 
 " STEPHEN ! Stephen ! Stephen ! " 
 The impatient cry was heard through all 
 the narrow gloomy street, where the old 
 richly-carved house-fronts bowed to meet 
 one another and left for the eye's comfort 
 only a bare glimpse of blue. It was, men 
 said, the oldest street in Strelsau, even as 
 the sign of the " Silver Ship " was the oldest 
 sign known to exist in the city. For when 
 Aaron Lazarus the Jew came there, seventy 
 years before, he had been the tenth man in 
 unbroken line that took up the business ; 
 and now Stephen Nados, his apprentice 
 and successor, was the eleventh. Old Laz- 
 arus had made a great business of it, and 
 had spent his savings in buying up the 
 better part of the street ; but since Jews 
 then might hold no property in Strelsau, 
 
2 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 he had taken all the deeds in the name of 
 Stephen Nados ; and when he came to die, 
 being unable to carry his houses or his 
 money with him, having no kindred, and 
 caring not a straw for any man or woman 
 alive save Stephen, he bade Stephen let 
 the deeds be, and, with a last curse against 
 the Christians (of whom Stephen was one, 
 and a devout one), he kissed the young 
 man, and turned his face to the wall and 
 died. Therefore Stephen was a rich man, 
 and had no need to carry on the business, 
 though it never entered his mind to do 
 anything else ; for half the people who 
 raised their heads at the sound of the cry 
 were Stephen's tenants, and paid him rent 
 when he asked for it ; a thing he did when 
 he chanced to remember, and could tear him- 
 self away from chasing a goblet or fashion- 
 ing a little silver saint ; for Stephen loved 
 his craft more than his rents ; therefore, 
 again, he was well liked in the quarter. 
 
 " Stephen ! Stephen ! " cried Prince 
 Henry, impatiently hammering on the 
 closed door with his whip. " Plague take 
 the man ! Is he dead?" 
 
 The men in the quarter went on with 
 their work ; the women moved idly to the 
 doors ; the girls came out into the street 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith. 3 
 
 and clustered here and there, looking at the 
 Prince. For although he was not so hand- 
 some as that scamp Rudolf, his brother, 
 who had just come back from his travels 
 with half a dozen wild stories spurring after 
 him, yet Henry was a comely youth, as he 
 sat on his chestnut mare, with his blue eyes 
 full of impatience, and his chestnut curls 
 fringing his shoulders. So the girls clus- 
 tered and looked. Moreover Stephen the 
 smith must come soon, and the sight of 
 him was worth a moment's waiting ; for he 
 buried himself all day in his workshop, 
 and no laughing challenge could lure him 
 out. 
 
 " Though, in truth," said one of the girls, 
 tossing her head, " it's thankless work to 
 spend a glance on either, for they do not 
 return it. Now when Rudolf comes " 
 
 She broke off with a laugh, and her com- 
 rades joined in it. Rudolf left no debts of 
 that sort unpaid, however deep he might be 
 in the books of Stephen Nados and of the 
 others who furnished his daily needs. 
 
 Presently Stephen came, unbolting his 
 door with much deliberation, and greeting 
 Prince Henry with a restrained courtesy. 
 He was not very well pleased to see his 
 guest, for it was a ticklish moment with the 
 
4 The Heart of Princess Osr a* 
 
 nose of Saint Peter, and Stephen would 
 have liked to finish the job uninterrupted. 
 Still, the Prince was a prince, a gentleman, 
 and a friend, and Stephen would not be 
 uncivil to him. 
 
 " You ride early to-day, sir," he observed, 
 patting the chestnut mare. 
 
 " I have a good reason," answered 
 Henry. " The Lion rages to-day." 
 
 Stephen put up his hand to shelter his 
 eyes from a ray of sunshine that had 
 evaded the nodding walls and crept in ; it 
 lit up his flaxen hair, which he wore long 
 and in thick waves, and played in his yel- 
 low beard ; and he looked very grave. For 
 when the Lion raged, strange and alarming 
 things might happen in the city of Strelsau. 
 The stories of his last fit of passion were 
 yet hardly old. 
 
 " What has vexed the King ? " he asked ; 
 for he knew that Prince Henry spoke of 
 his father, Henry surnamed the Lion, now 
 an old man, yet as fierce as when he had 
 been young. " Is it your brother again ?" 
 
 " For a marvel, no. It is myself, Ste- 
 phen. And he is more furious with me 
 than he has ever been with Rudolf ; aye, 
 even more than he was at all the stories 
 that followed my brother home." 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith. 5 
 
 "And what is the cause of it all, sir, and 
 how is it in my power to help?" 
 
 " That you will find out very soon," said 
 the Prince with a bitter laugh. " You will 
 be sent for to the palace in an hour, Ste- 
 phen." 
 
 " If it is about the King's ring, the ring 
 is not finished," said Stephen. 
 
 " It is not about the ring. Yet indeed 
 it is, in a way, about a ring. For you are 
 to be married, Stephen. This very day you 
 are to be married." 
 
 " I think not, sir," said Stephen mildly. 
 " For it is a thing that a man himself hears 
 about if it be true." 
 
 " But the King thinks so ; Stephen, have 
 you remarked, among my sister Osra's 
 ladies, a certain dark lady, with black hair 
 and eyes? I cannot describe her eyes." 
 
 " But you can tell me her name, sir," sug- 
 gested Stephen, who was a practical man. 
 
 " Her name? Oh, her name is Hilda 
 Hilda von Lauengram." 
 
 " Aye, I know the Countess Hilda. I 
 have made a bracelet for her." 
 
 " She is the most beautiful creature 
 alive!" cried Prince Henry, in a sudden 
 rapture and so loudly (being carried away 
 by his passion) that the girls heard him 
 
6 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 and wondered of whom he spoke with so 
 great an enthusiasm. 
 
 " To those to whom she seems such," ob- 
 served Stephen. "But, pray, how am I con- 
 cerned in all this, sir?" 
 
 The Prince's smile grew more bitter as 
 he answered : 
 
 " Why, you are to marry her. It was an 
 idle suggestion of Osra's, made in jest ; my 
 father is pleased to approve of it in earnest." 
 
 Then he bent in his saddle and went on 
 in a hurried urgent whisper : " I love her 
 better than my life, Stephen better than 
 heaven ; and my faith and word are pledged 
 to her ; and last night I was to have fled 
 with her for I knew better than to face the 
 old Lion but Osra found her making prep- 
 arations and we were discovered. Then 
 Osra was scornful, and the King mad, and 
 Rudolf laughed ; and when they talked of 
 what was to be done to her, Osra came in 
 with her laughing suggestion. It caught 
 the King's angry fancy, and he swore that 
 it should be so. And, since the Archbishop 
 is away, he has bidden the Bishop of Moden- 
 stein be at the palace at twelve to-day, and 
 you will be brought there also, and you 
 will be married to her. But, by heavens, I'll 
 have your blood if you are ! " With this 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 7 
 
 sudden outbreak of fury the Prince ended. 
 Yet a moment later* he put out his hand 
 to the smith, saying : " It's not your fault, 
 
 man." 
 
 " That's true enough," said the smith ; 
 " for I have no desire to marry her ; and 
 it is not fitting that a lady of her birth 
 should mate with a smith ; she is of a great 
 house, and she would hate and despise 
 
 me." 
 
 Prince Henry was about to assent when 
 his eye chanced to fall on Stephen the smith. 
 Now the smith was a very handsome man 
 handsomer, many said, than Prince Rudolf 
 himself, whom no lady could look on with- 
 out admiration ; he stood six feet and two 
 inches in his flat working shoes ; he was very 
 broad, and could leap higher and hurl a stone 
 farther than any man in Strelsau. More- 
 over he looked kind and gentle, yet was re- 
 puted to grow angry at times, and then to be 
 very dangerous. Therefore Prince Henry, 
 knowing (or thinking that he knew) the 
 caprices of women, and how they are caught 
 by this and that, was suddenly seized with 
 a terrible fear that the Countess Hilda 
 might not despise Stephen the smith. Yet 
 he did not express his fear, but said that it 
 was an impossible thing that a lady of the 
 
8 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 Countess's birth (for the House of Lauen- 
 gram was very noble) should wed a silver- 
 smith, even though he were as fine a fellow 
 as his good friend Stephen ; to which gra- 
 cious speech Stephen made no reply, but 
 stood very thoughtful, with his hand on the 
 neck of the chestnut mare. But at last he 
 said : "In any case it cannot be, for I am 
 bound already." 
 
 " A wife ? Have you a wife ? " cried the 
 Prince eagerly. 
 
 " No ; but my heart is bound," said 
 Stephen the smith. 
 
 " The King will make little of that. Yet 
 who is she ? Is she any of these girls who 
 stand looking at us ? " 
 
 " No, she is none of these," answered 
 Stephen, smiling as though such an idea 
 were very ludicrous. 
 
 " And are you pledged to her ? " 
 
 " I to her, but not she to me." 
 
 " But does she love you ? " 
 
 "I think it most unlikely," said Stephen 
 the smith. 
 
 " The Lion will care nothing for this," 
 groaned the Prince despondently. " They 
 will send for you in half an hour. For 
 heaven's sake spare her, Stephen ! " 
 
 "Spare her, sir?" 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 9 
 
 " Do not consent to marry her, however 
 urgently the King may command you." 
 
 The smith shook his head, smiling still. 
 Prince Henry rode sorrowfully away, spend- 
 ing not a glance on the bevy of girls who 
 watched him go ; and Stephen, turning 
 into his house, shut the door, and with one 
 great sigh set to work again on the nose 
 of Saint Peter. 
 
 " For anyhow," said he, " a man can 
 work." And after a long pause he added, 
 " I never thought to tell any one ; but if I 
 must, I must." 
 
 Now, sure enough, when the clock on the 
 Cathedral wanted a quarter of an hour of 
 noon, two of the King's Guard came and 
 bade Stephen follow them with all haste 
 to the palace ; and since they were very 
 urgent and no time was to be lost, he fol- 
 lowed them as he was, in his apron, without 
 washing his hands or getting rid of the dust 
 that hung about him from his work. How- 
 ever he had finished Saint Peter's nose and 
 all had gone well with it, so that he went 
 in a contented frame of mind, determined 
 to tell the whole truth to King Henry the 
 Lion sooner than be forced into a mar- 
 riage with the Countess Hilda von Lauen- 
 gram. 
 
io The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 The Lion sat in his great chair ; he was 
 a very thin old man, with a face haggard 
 and deeply lined ; his eyes, set far back in 
 his head, glowed and glowered, and his 
 fingers pulled his sparse white beard. On 
 his right Prince Rudolf lolled on a low 
 seat, smiling at the play ; on his left sat 
 that wonderfully fair lady, the Princess 
 Osra, then in the first bloom of her young 
 beauty ; and she was smiling scornfully. 
 Prince Henry stood before his father, and 
 some yards from him was the Countess 
 Hilda, trembling and tearful, supported by 
 one of her companions ; and finally, since 
 the Archbishop was gone to Rome to get 
 himself a Scarlet Hat, the Bishop of Moden- 
 stein, a young man of noble family, was 
 there, most richly arrayed in choicest lace 
 and handsomest vestments, ready to per- 
 form the ceremony. Prince Rudolf had 
 beckoned the Bishop near him, and was jest- 
 ing with him in an undertone. The Bishop 
 laughed as a man laughs who knows he 
 should not laugh but cannot well help him- 
 self ; for Rudolf owned a pretty wit, al- 
 though it was sadly unrestrained. 
 
 The King's fury, having had a night and 
 a morning to grow cool in, had now settled 
 into a cold ironical mood, which argued no 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* n 
 
 less resolution than his first fierce wrath. 
 There was a grim smile on his face as he 
 addressed the smith, who, having bowed to 
 the company, was standing between the 
 Countess and Prince Henry. 
 
 " The House of Elphberg," said the King, 
 with mocking graciousness, " well recog- 
 nises your worth, Stephen, my friend. We 
 are indebted to you 
 
 11 It's a thousand crowns or more from 
 Prince Rudolf alone, sire," interrupted Ste- 
 phen, with a bow to the Prince he named. 
 
 " For much faithful service," pursued the 
 King, while Rudolf laughed again. " I 
 have therefore determined to reward you 
 with the hand of a lady who is, it may be, 
 above your station, but in no way above your 
 worth. Behold her ! Is she not hand- 
 some? On my word, I envy you, smith. 
 She is beautiful, young, high-born. You 
 are lucky, smith. Nay, no thanks. It is 
 but what you deserve and no more than 
 she deserves. Take her and be happy," 
 and he ended with a snarling laugh, as he 
 waved his lean veined hand towards the 
 unhappy Countess, and fixed his sneering 
 eyes on the face of his son Henry, who had 
 turned pale as death, but neither spoke nor 
 moved. 
 
12 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 The Bishop of Modenstein he was of 
 the House of Hentzau, many of which have 
 been famous in history lifted up his hands 
 in horror at Rudolf's last whispered jest, 
 and then, advancing with a bow to the King, 
 asked if he were now to perform his sacred 
 duties. 
 
 " Aye, get on with it," growled the Lion, 
 not heeding the Countess's sobs or the 
 entreaty in his son's face. And the Prin- 
 cess Osra sat unmoved, the scornful smile 
 still on her lips ; it seemed as though she 
 had no pity for a brother who could stoop, 
 or for a girl who had dared to soar too high. 
 
 "Wait, wait!" said Stephen the smith. 
 " Does this lady love me, sire ? " 
 
 " Aye, she loves you enough for the pur- 
 pose, smith," grinned the King. " Do not 
 be uneasy." 
 
 " May I ask her if she loves me, sire ? " 
 
 " Why, no, smith. Your King's word 
 must be enough for you." 
 
 " And your Majesty says that she loves 
 me?" 
 
 " I do say so, smith." 
 
 " Then," said Stephen, " I am very sorry 
 for her ; for as there's a heaven above us, 
 sire, I do not love her." 
 
 Prince Rudolf laughed ; Osra's smile 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 13 
 
 broadened in greater scorn ; the Countess 
 hid her face in her companion's bosom. 
 The old King roared out a gruff burst. 
 " Good, good ! " he chuckled. " But it will 
 come with marriage, smith ; for with mar- 
 riage love either comes or goes eh, son 
 Rudolf? and since in this case it cannot 
 go, you must not doubt, friend Stephen, 
 that it will come." And he threw himself 
 back in his chair, greatly amused that a 
 smith, when offered the hand of a Countess, 
 should hesitate to take it. He had not 
 thought of so fine a humiliation as this for 
 the presumptuous girl. 
 
 "That might well be, sire," admitted 
 Stephen, " were it not that I most passion- 
 ately love another." 
 
 " Our affections," said the King, " are 
 unruly things, smith, and must be kept in 
 subjection ; is it not so, son Rudolf ? " 
 
 " It should be so, sire," answered the 
 merry Prince. 
 
 But the Princess Osra, whose eyes had 
 been scanning Stephen's figure, here broke 
 suddenly into the conversation. 
 
 " Are you pledged to her whom you love 
 so passionately ? " she asked. 
 
 " I have not ventured to tell her of my 
 love, madame," answered he, bowing low. 
 
14 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 " Then there is no harm done," observed 
 Prince Rudolf. " The harm lies in the 
 telling, not in the loving." 
 
 " Tell us something about her," com- 
 manded the Princess ; and the King, who 
 loved sport most when it hurt others, 
 chimed in : " Aye, let's hear about her whom 
 you prefer to this lady. In what shop does 
 she work, smith ? Or does she sell flowers ? 
 Or is she a serving-girl ? Come, listen, 
 Countess, and hear about your rival." 
 
 Prince Henry took one step forward in 
 uncontrolled anger ; but he could not meet 
 the savage mirth in the old man's eyes, and, 
 sinking into a chair, spread his hand across 
 his face. But Stephen, regarding the King 
 with placid good-humour, began to speak 
 of her whom he loved so passionately. 
 And his voice was soft as he spoke. 
 
 " She works in no shop, sire," said he, 
 "nor does she sell flowers, nor is she a 
 serving-girl ; though I would not care if 
 she were. But one day, when the clouds 
 hung dark over our street, she came riding 
 down it, and another girl with her. The 
 two stopped before my door, and, seeing 
 them, I came out 
 
 "It is more than you do for me," re- 
 marked Prince Rudolf. 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 15 
 
 Stephen smiled, but continued his story. 
 " I came out ; and she whom I love gave me 
 a bracelet to mend. And I, looking at her 
 rather than at the bracelet, said, 4 But al- 
 ready it is perfect.' But she did not hear, 
 for, when she had given me the bracelet, she 
 rode on again at once and took no more no- 
 tice of me than of the flies that were crawl- 
 ing up my wall. That was the first and is 
 the last time that I have spoken to her un- 
 til this day. But she was so beautiful that 
 there and then I swore that, until I had found 
 means and courage to tell her my love, and 
 until she had thrice refused it, I would 
 marry no other maiden nor speak a word of 
 love." 
 
 " It seems to me," said Prince Rudolf, 
 " that the oath has some prudence in it ; 
 for if she prove obdurate, friend Stephen, 
 you will then be able to go elsewhere ; 
 many lovers swear more in temperately." 
 
 " But they do not keep their oaths," said 
 Stephen, with a shrewd look at the Prince. 
 
 " You had best let him alone, my son," 
 said the old King. " He knows what all the 
 country knows of its future King." 
 
 "Then he may go and hang with all the 
 country," said the Prince peevishly. 
 
 But the Princess Osra leant a little for- 
 
1 6 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 ward towards Stephen, and the Countess 
 Hilda also looked covertly out from the 
 folds of her friend's dress at Stephen. And 
 the Princess said : 
 
 " Was she then so beautiful, this girl ?" 
 
 " As the sun in heaven, madame," said 
 the smith. 
 
 " As beautiful as my pretty sister ? " asked 
 Rudolf in careless jest. 
 
 "Yes, as beautiful, sir," answered Stephen. 
 
 "Then," said the cruel old King, "very 
 much more beautiful than this Countess ? " 
 
 " Of that you must ask your son Henry, 
 sire," said Stephen discreetly. 
 
 " Nevertheless," said the King, " you must 
 put up with the Countess. We cannot all 
 have what we want in this world, can we, 
 son Henry?" and he chuckled again most 
 maliciously. 
 
 " Not, sire, till my lady has thrice refused 
 me," the smith reminded the King. 
 
 " Then she must be quick about it. For 
 we all, and my lord Bishop here, are wait- 
 ing. Send for her, Stephen by heaven, I 
 have a curiosity to see her ! " 
 
 " And, by heaven ! so have I, " added 
 Prince Rudolf with a merry smile. "And 
 poor Henry here may be cured by the 
 sight. " 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 17 
 
 The Princess Osra leant a little further 
 forward, and said gently : 
 
 " Tell us her name, and we will send for 
 her. Indeed I also would like to see her" 
 
 " But if she refuses, I shall be worse off 
 than I am now ; and if she says yes, still 
 I must marry the Countess," objected the 
 smith. 
 
 " Nay," said the King, "if she does not 
 refuse you three times, you shall not marry 
 the Countess, but shall be free to try your 
 fortune with the girl ; " for the smith had 
 put the old Lion in a better temper, and he 
 thought he was to witness more sport. 
 
 "Since your Majesty is so good, I must 
 tell her name," said Stephen, " though ! 
 had rather have declared my love to her- 
 self alone." 
 
 " It is the pleasantest way," said Prince 
 Rudolf, " but the thing can be done in the 
 presence of others also." 
 
 " You must tell us her name that we may 
 send for her," said the Princess, her eyes 
 wandering now from the Countess to the 
 smith, and back to the Countess again. 
 
 " Well, then," said Stephen sturdily, "the 
 lady who came riding down the street and 
 took away my heart with her is called Osra, 
 and her father is named Henry." 
 
i8 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 A moment or two passed before they 
 understood what the smith had said. Then 
 the old King fell into a fit of laughter, 
 half choked by coughing ; Prince Rudolf 
 clapped his hands in merry mockery, and a 
 deep flush spread over the face of the Prin- 
 cess ; while the Countess, her companion, 
 and the younger Prince seemed too aston- 
 ished to do anything but stare. As for 
 Stephen, having said what he had to say, 
 he held his peace a thing in him which 
 many men, and women also, would do well 
 to imitate ; and, if they cannot, let them 
 pray for the grace that is needful. Heaven 
 is omnipotent. 
 
 The old King, having recovered from his 
 fit of laughing, looked round on the smith 
 with infinite amusement, and, turning to his 
 daughter, he said : " Come, Osra, you have 
 heard the declaration. It remains only for 
 you to satisfy our good friend's conscience 
 by refusing him three times. For then he 
 will be free to do our pleasure and make 
 the Countess Hilda happy." 
 
 The heart of women is, as it would seem, 
 a strange thing ; for the Princess Osra, 
 hearing what the smith had said and learn- 
 ing that he had fallen passionately in love 
 with her on the mere sight of her beauty, 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 19 
 
 suddenly felt a tenderness for him and a 
 greater admiration than she had entertained 
 before ; and although she harboured no ab- 
 surd idea of listening to his madness, or of 
 doing anything in the world but laugh at it 
 as it deserved, yet there came on her a 
 strange dislike of the project that she had 
 herself, in sport, suggested : namely, that 
 the smith should be married immediately to 
 the Countess Hilda by the Lord Bishop of 
 Modenstein. The fellow, this smith, had 
 an eye for true beauty, it seemed. It would 
 be hard to tie him down to this dusky, 
 black-maned girl ; for so the Princess de- 
 scribed the lady whom her brother loved, 
 she herself being, like most of the Elph- 
 bergs, rather red than black in color. Ac- 
 cordingly, when the King spoke to her, she 
 said fretfully : 
 
 " Am I to be put to refuse the hand of 
 such a fellow as this ? Why, to refuse him 
 is a stain on my dignity ! " And she looked 
 most haughty. 
 
 " Yet you must grant him so much be- 
 cause of his oath," said the King. 
 
 "Well, then, I refuse him," said she tartly, 
 and she turned her eyes away from him. 
 
 " That is once," said Stephen the smith 
 calmly, and he fixed his eyes on the Princess's 
 
20 The Heart of Princess Osra 
 
 face. She felt his gaze, her eyes were drawn 
 back to his, and she exclaimed angrily : 
 
 " Yes, I refuse him," and again she 
 looked away. But he looked still more in- 
 tently at her, waiting for the third refusal. 
 
 " It is as easy to say no three times as 
 twice," said the King. 
 
 " For a man, sire," murmured Prince 
 Rudolf ; for he was very learned in the per- 
 ilous knowledge of a woman's whims, and, 
 maybe, read something of what was passing 
 in his sister's heart. Certainly he looked at 
 her and laughed, and said to the King : 
 
 " Sire, I think this smith is a clever man, 
 for what he really desires is to wed the 
 Countess, and to do it without disobliging 
 my brother. Therefore he professes this 
 ridiculous passion, knowing well that Osra 
 will refuse him, and that he will enjoy the 
 great good fortune of marrying the Coun- 
 tess against his will. Thus he will obey 
 you and be free from my brother's anger. 
 In truth, you're a crafty fellow, Master Ste- 
 phen!" 
 
 "There is no craft, sir," said Stephen. 
 " I have told nothing but the truth." 
 
 But the King swore a loud oath, crying : 
 " Aye, that there is ! Rudolf has hit the 
 mark. Yet I do not grudge him his good 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 21 
 
 luck. Refuse him, Osra, and make him 
 happy." 
 
 But the dark flush came anew on the 
 Princess's face, for now she did not know 
 whether the smith really loved her or 
 whether he had been making a jest of her 
 in order to save himself in the eyes of her 
 brother Henry, and it became very intoler- 
 able to her to suppose that the smith de- 
 sired the Countess, and had lied in what he 
 said about herself, making a tool of her. 
 Again, it was hardly more tolerable to give 
 him to the Countess, in case he truly loved 
 herself ; so that her mind was very greatly 
 disturbed, and she was devoured with eager- 
 ness to know the reality of the smith's feel- 
 ings towards her ; for, although he was only 
 a smith, yet he was a wonderfully hand- 
 some man in truth, it was curious that she 
 had not paid attention to his looks before. 
 Thus she was reluctant to refuse him a 
 third time, when the Bishop of Moden- 
 stein stood there, waiting only for her word 
 to marry him to the Countess ; and she 
 rose suddenly from her seat and walked to- 
 wards the door of the room, and, when she 
 had almost reached the door, she turned 
 her head over her shoulder and cast one 
 smile at Stephen the smith. As she glanced, 
 
22 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 the blush again mounted to her face, making 
 her so lovely that her father wondered, 
 and she said in arch softness : " I'll refuse 
 him the third time some other day ; two de- 
 nials are enough for one day," and with that 
 she passed through the door and vanished 
 from their sight. 
 
 The King and Rudolf, who had seen the 
 glance that she cast at Stephen, fell to 
 laughing again, swearing to one another 
 that a woman was a woman all the world over, 
 whereat the lips of the Bishop twitched. 
 
 " But the marriage can't go on," cried 
 Rudolf at last. 
 
 " Let it rest for to-day," said the King, 
 whose anger was past. " Let it rest. The 
 Countess shall be guarded ; and, since this 
 young fool" (and he pointed to his son 
 Henry) " will not wander while she is caged, 
 let him go where he will. Then as soon as 
 Osra has refused the smith a third time, we 
 will send for the Bishop." 
 
 " And what am I to do, sire ? " asked Ste- 
 phen the smith. 
 
 " Why, my son-in-law that would be," 
 chuckled the King, " you may go back to 
 where you came from till I send for you 
 again." 
 
 So Stephen, having thanked the King, 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 23 
 
 went back home, and, sitting down to the 
 chasing of a cup, became very thoughtful; 
 for it seemed to him that the Countess had 
 been hardly treated, and that the Prince de- 
 served happiness, and that the Princess was 
 yet more lovely than his eyes had found 
 her before. 
 
 Thus, in his work and his meditations, the 
 afternoon wore away fast. So goes time 
 when hand and head are busy. 
 
 The Princess Osra walked restlessly up 
 and down the length of her bed-chamber. 
 Dinner was done and it was eight o'clock, 
 and, the season being late October, it had 
 grown dark. She had come thither to be 
 alone ; yet, now that she was alone, she could 
 not rest. He was an absurd fellow that 
 smith ! Yes, she thought him fully as hand- 
 some as her brother Rudolf. But what did 
 Henry find to love in the black-brown Hilda ? 
 She could not understand a man caring for 
 such a colour ; a blackamoor would serve as 
 well ! Ah, what had that silly smith meant ? 
 It must have been a trick, as Rudolf said. 
 Yet when he spoke first of her riding down 
 the street, there was a look in his eyes that a 
 man can hardly put there of his own will. 
 Did the silly fellow then really ? Nay, 
 
24 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 that was absurd ; she prayed that it might 
 not be true, for she would not have the poor 
 fool unhappy. Nay, he was no fool. It 
 was a trick, then ! How dared the insolent 
 knave use her for his tricks ? Was there no 
 other maiden in Strelsau whose name would 
 have served ? Must he lay his tongue to 
 the name of a daughter of the Elphbergs ? 
 The fellow deserved flogging, if it were a 
 trick. Ah, was it a trick? Or was it the 
 truth? Oh, in heaven's name, which was 
 it ? And the Princess tore the delicate silk 
 of her ivory fan to shreds, and flung the 
 naked sticks with a clatter on the floor. 
 
 " I can't rest till I know," she cried, as 
 she came to a stand before a lo-ng mirror 
 let into the panel of the wall, and saw her- 
 self at full length in it. As she looked a 
 smile came, parting her lips, and she threw 
 her head back as she said : " I will go and 
 ask the smith what he meant." And she 
 smiled again at her own face in triumphant 
 daring ; for when she looked, she thought, 
 " I know what he meant ! Yet I will hear 
 from himself what he meant." 
 
 Stephen the smith sat alone in his house ; 
 his apprentices were gone, and he himself 
 neither worked nor supped, but sat still and 
 idle by his hearth. The street was silent 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 25 
 
 also, for it rained and nobody was about. 
 Then suddenly came a light timid rap at 
 the door ; so light was it that the smith 
 doubted if he had really heard, but it came 
 again and he rose leisurely and opened the 
 door. Even as he did so a slight tall figure 
 slipped by him, an arm pulled him back, the 
 door was pushed close again, and he was 
 alone inside the house with a lady wrapped 
 in a long riding-cloak, and so veiled that 
 nothing of her face could be seen. 
 
 " Welcome, madame," said Stephen the 
 smith ; and he drew a chair forward and 
 bowed to his visitor. He was not wearing 
 his apron now, but was dressed in a well- 
 cut suit of brown cloth and had put on a 
 pair of silk stockings. He might have 
 been expecting visitors, so carefully had he 
 arrayed himself. 
 
 " Do you know who I am?" asked the 
 veiled lady. 
 
 " Since I was a baby, madame," answered 
 the smith, " I have known the sun when I 
 saw it, even though clouds dimmed its face." 
 
 A corner of the veil was drawn down, and 
 one eye gleamed in frightened mirth. 
 
 " Nobody knows I have come," said Osra. 
 " And you do not know why I have come." 
 
 " Is it to answer me for the third time ? " 
 
26 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 asked he, drawing a step nearer, yet observ- 
 ing great deference in his manner. 
 
 " It is not to answer at all, but to ask. 
 But I am very silly to have come. What is 
 it to me what you meant ?" 
 
 " I cannot conceive that it could be any- 
 thing, madame," said Stephen, smiling. 
 
 "Yet some think her beautiful my 
 brother Henry, for example." 
 
 " We must respect the opinions of 
 Princes," observed the smith. 
 
 " Must we share them ?" she asked, draw- 
 ing the veil yet a little aside. 
 
 " We can share nothing we humble folk 
 with Princes or Princesses, madame." 
 
 " Yet we can make free with their names, 
 though humbler ones would serve as well." 
 
 " No other would have served at all, ma- 
 dame." 
 
 " Then you meant it ? " she cried in sud- 
 den half-serious eagerness. 
 
 " Nay, but what, madame ? " 
 
 " I don't care whether you meant it or 
 not." 
 
 " Alas ! I know it so well, that I marvel 
 you have come to tell me." 
 
 The Princess rose and began to walk up 
 and down as she had in her own chamber. 
 Stephen stood regarding her as though 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 27 
 
 God had made his eyes for that one pur- 
 pose. 
 
 " The thing is nothing," she declared 
 petulantly, " but I have a fancy to ask it. 
 Stephen, was it a trick, or or was it really 
 so ? Come, answer me ! I can't spend 
 much time on it." 
 
 " It is not worth a thought to you. If 
 you say no a third time, all will be well." 
 
 "You will marry the Countess?" 
 
 "Can I disobey the King, madame?" 
 
 " I am very sorry for her," said the Prin- 
 cess. "A lady of her rank should not be 
 forced to marry a silversmith." 
 
 " Indeed I thought so all along. There- 
 fore " 
 
 "You played the trick?" she cried in 
 unmistakable anger. 
 
 Stephen made no answer for a time, 
 then he said softly : "If she loves the 
 Prince and he her, why should they not 
 marry ? " 
 
 " Because his birth is above hers." 
 
 " I am glad, then, that I am of no birth, 
 for I can marry whom I will." 
 
 " Are you so happy and so free, Ste- 
 phen?" sighed the Princess ; and there was 
 no more of the veil left than served to 
 frame the picture of her face. 
 
28 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 " So soon as you have refused me the 
 third time, madame," bowed the smith. 
 
 " Will you not answer me?" cried the 
 Princess ; and she smiled no more, but was 
 as eager as though she were asking some 
 important question. 
 
 " Bring the Countess here to-morrow at 
 this time," said Stephen, "and I will answer." 
 
 " You wish, perhaps, to make a compari- 
 son between us ? " she asked haughtily. 
 
 " I cannot be compelled to answer ex- 
 cept on my own terms," said the smith. 
 " Yet if you will refuse me once again, the 
 thing will be finished." 
 
 " I will refuse you," she cried, "when I 
 please." 
 
 " But you will bring the Countess, ma- 
 dame?" 
 
 "I am very sorry for her. I have be- 
 haved ill to her, Stephen, though I meant 
 only to jest." 
 
 " There is room for amends, madame," 
 said he. 
 
 The Princess looked long and curiously 
 in his face, but he met her glance with a 
 quiet smile. 
 
 " It grows late," said he, " and you should 
 not be here longer, madame. Shall I escort 
 you to the palace ? " 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 29 
 
 " And have every one asking with whom 
 Stephen the smith walks ? No, I will go 
 as I came. You have not answered me, 
 Stephen." 
 
 "And you have not refused me, ma- 
 dame." 
 
 " Will you answer me to-morrow when 
 I come with the Countess ? " 
 
 " Yes, I will answer then." 
 
 The Princess had drawn near to the door; 
 now Stephen opened it for her to pass out ; 
 and as she crossed the threshold, she said : 
 
 " And I will refuse you then perhaps ; " 
 with which she darted swiftly down the 
 dark, silent, shining street, and was gone ; 
 and Stephen, having closed the door, passed 
 his hand twice over his brow, sighed thrice, 
 smiled once, and set about the preparation 
 of his supper. 
 
 On the next night, as the Cathedral clock 
 struck nine, there arose a sudden tumult and 
 excitement in the palace. King Henry the 
 Lion was in such a rage as no man had 
 ever seen him in before ; even Rudolf, his 
 son, did not dare to laugh "at him ; courtiers, 
 guards, attendants, lackeys, ran wildly to 
 and fro in immense fear and trepidation. 
 A little later, and a large company of the 
 King's Guard filed out, and, under the com- 
 
30 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 mand of various officers, scattered them- 
 selves through the whole of Strelsau, while 
 five mounted men rode at a gallop to each of 
 the five gates of the city, bearing commands 
 that the gates should be closed, and no 
 man, woman, or child be allowed to pass 
 out without an order under the hand of the 
 King's Marshal. And the King swore by 
 heaven, and by much else, that he would 
 lay them that is to say, the persons whose 
 disappearance caused all this hubbub by 
 the heels, and that they should know that 
 there was life in the Lion yet ; whereat 
 Prince Rudolf looked as serious as he 
 could contrive to look for he was wonder- 
 fully amused and called for more wine. 
 And the reason of the whole thing was 
 no other than this, that the room of the 
 Princess Osra was empty, and the room 
 of the Countess Hilda was empty, and no- 
 body had set eyes on Henry, the King's 
 son, for the last two hours or more. Now 
 these facts were, under the circumstances 
 of the case, enough to upset a man of a 
 temper far more equable than was old King 
 Henry the Lion. 
 
 Through all the city went the Guards, 
 knocking at every door, disturbing some at 
 their suppers, some from their beds, some 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 31 
 
 in the midst of revelry, some who toiled 
 late for a scanty livelihood. When the 
 doors were not opened briskly, the Guard 
 without ceremony broke them in ; they 
 ransacked every crevice and cranny of every 
 house, and displayed the utmost zeal im- 
 aginable ; nay, one old lady they so terrified 
 that she had a fit there where she lay in 
 bed, and did not recover for the best part 
 of a month. And thus, having traversed all 
 the city and set the whole place in stir and 
 commotion, they came at last to the street 
 where Stephen lived, and to the sign of the 
 " Silver Ship," where he carried on the busi- 
 ness bequeathed to him by Aaron Lazarus 
 the Jew. 
 
 " Rat, tat, tat ! " came thundering on the 
 door from the sword-hilt of the Sergeant in 
 command of the party. 
 
 There was no answer ; no light shone 
 from the house, for the window was closely 
 shuttered. Again the Sergeant hammered 
 on the door. 
 
 " This pestilent smith is gone to bed," he 
 cried in vexation. " But we must leave no 
 house unsearched. Come, we must break 
 in the door ! " and he began to examine the 
 door, and found that it was a fine solid 
 door, of good oak and clamped with iron. 
 
32 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 " Phew, we shall have a job with this 
 door ! " he sighed. " Why, in the devil's 
 name, doesn't the fellow answer ? Stephen, 
 Stephen ! Ho, there ! Stephen ! " 
 
 Yet no answer came from the inside of 
 the house. 
 
 But at this moment another sound struck 
 sharp on the ears of the Sergeant and his 
 men. It was the noise of flames crackling ; 
 from the house next to Stephen's (which 
 belonged to him, but was inhabited by a 
 fruit-seller) there welled out smoke in vol- 
 umes from every window ; and the fruit- 
 seller and his family appeared at the win- 
 dows calling for aid. Seeing this, the Ser- 
 geant blew very loudly the whistle that he 
 carried and cried " Fire ! " and bade his men 
 run and procure a ladder ; for plainly the 
 fruit-seller's house was on fire, and it was a 
 more urgent matter to rescue men and 
 women from burning than to find the Coun- 
 tess and the Prince. Presently the ladder 
 came, and a great crowd of people, roused 
 by the whistle and the cries of fire, came 
 also ; and then the door of Stephen's house 
 was opened, and Stephen himself, looking 
 out, asked what was the matter. Being 
 told that the next house was on fire, he 
 turned very grave for the house was his 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith. 33 
 
 and waited for a moment to watch the fruit- 
 seller and his family being brought down 
 the ladder, which task was safely and pros- 
 perously accomplished. But the Sergeant 
 said to him : " The fire may well spread, 
 and if there is anyone in your house, it would 
 be prudent to get them out." 
 
 " That is well thought of," said Stephen 
 approvingly. " I was working late with 
 three apprentices, and they are still in the 
 house." And he put his head in at his 
 door and called : " You had better come 
 out, lads, the fire may spread." But the 
 Sergeant turned away again and busied him- 
 self in putting the fire out. 
 
 Then three lads, one being very tall, 
 came out of Stephen's house, clad in their 
 leather breeches, their aprons, and the close- 
 fitting caps that apprentices wore ; and for a 
 moment they stood watching the fire at the 
 fruit-seller's. Then, seeing that the fire was 
 burning low which it did very quickly 
 they did not stay till the attention of the 
 Sergeant was released from it, but, accom- 
 panied by Stephen, turned down the street, 
 and, going along at a brisk rate, rounded 
 the corner and came into the open space in 
 front of the Cathedral. 
 
 " The gates will be shut, I fear," said the 
 
34 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 tallest apprentice. " How came the fire, 
 Stephen?" 
 
 " It was three or four trusses of hay, sir, 
 and a few crowns to repair his scorched 
 paint. Shall we go to the gate ?" 
 
 " Yes, we must try the gate," said Prince 
 Henry, gathering the hand of the Countess 
 into his ; and the third apprentice walked 
 silently by Stephen's side. Yet once as she 
 went, she said softly : 
 
 " So it was no trick, Stephen ?" 
 
 " No trick, but the truth, madame," said 
 Stephen. 
 
 " I do not know," said Osra, " how I am 
 to return to the palace in these clothes." 
 > " Let us get your brother and the 
 Countess away first," counselled the smith. 
 
 Now when they came to the nearest gate 
 it was shut ; but at the moment a troop of 
 mounted men rode up, having been sent by 
 the King to scour the country round, in case 
 the fugitives should have escaped already 
 from the city. And the Commandant of 
 the company bore an order from the King's 
 Marshal for the opening of the gate. See- 
 ing this, Stephen the smith went up to him 
 and began to talk to him, the three appren- 
 tices standing close by, The Commandant 
 knew Stephen well, and was pleased to talk 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 35 
 
 with him while the gates were opened and 
 the troopers filed through. Stephen kept 
 close by him till the troopers were all 
 through. Then he turned and spoke to 
 the apprentices, and they nodded assent. 
 The Commandant checked his horse for an 
 instant when he was half-way through the 
 
 fate, and bent down and took Stephen's 
 and to shake it in farewell. Stephen took 
 his hand with marvellous friendliness, and 
 held it, and would not let him go. But the 
 apprentices edged cautiously nearer and 
 nearer the gate. 
 
 " Enough, man, enough ! " laughed the 
 Commandant. " We are not parting for 
 ever." 
 
 " I trust not, sir, I trust not," said Stephen 
 earnestly, still holding his hand. 
 
 " Come, let me go. See, the gate-warden 
 wants to shut the gate ! " 
 
 " True ! " said Stephen. " Good-bye then, 
 sir. Hallo, hallo ! stop, stop ! Oh, the 
 young rascals ! " 
 
 For even as Stephen spoke, two of the 
 apprentices had darted through the half- 
 closed gate, and run swiftly forward into 
 the gloom of the night. Stephen swore an 
 oath. 
 
 " The rogues ! " he cried. " They were 
 
36 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 to have worked all night to finish an image 
 of Our Lady ! And now I shall see no 
 more of them till to-morrow ! They shall 
 pay for their prank then, by heaven they 
 shall !" But the Commandant laughed. 
 
 , " I am sorry I can't catch them for you, 
 friend Stephen," said he, "but I have other 
 fish to fry. Well, boys will be boys. Don't 
 be too hard on them when they return." 
 
 " They must answer for what they do," 
 said Stephen ; and the Commandant rode 
 on and the gates were shut. 
 
 Then the Princess Osra said : 
 
 " Will they escape, Stephen ?" 
 
 " They have money in their purses, love 
 in their hearts, and an angry King behind 
 them. I should travel quickly, madame, if 
 I were so placed." 
 
 The Princess looked through the grating 
 of the gate. 
 
 "Yes," she said, "they have all those. 
 How happy they must be, Stephen ! But 
 what am I to do ? " 
 
 Stephen made no answer and they walked 
 back in silence to his house. It may be 
 that they were wondering whether Prince 
 Henry and the Countess would escape. 
 Yet it may be that they thought of some- 
 thing else. When they reached the house, 
 
STEPHEN STOOD ON THE THRESHOLD WITH HIS STAFF IN HIS HAND." Page .tf. 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 37 
 
 Stephen bade the Princess go into the inner 
 room and resume her own dress that she 
 might return to the palace, and that it 
 might not be known where she had been 
 nor how she had aided her brother to evade 
 the King's prohibition ; and when she, still 
 strangely silent, went in as he bade her, he 
 took his great staff in his hand, and stood 
 on the threshold of the house, his head 
 nearly touching the lintel and his shoulders 
 filling almost all the space between door- 
 post and door-post. 
 
 When he had stood there a little while, 
 the same Sergeant of the Guard, recollect- 
 ing (now that the fire at the fruit-seller's 
 was out) that he had never searched the 
 house of the smith, came again with his 
 four men, and told Stephen to stand aside 
 and allow him to enter the house. 
 
 " For I must search it," he said, " or my 
 orders will not be performed." 
 
 " Those whom you seek are not here," 
 said Stephen. 
 
 " That I must see for myself," answered 
 the Sergeant. '' Come, smith, stand aside." 
 
 When the Princess heard the voices out- 
 side, she put her head round the door of 
 the inner room, and cried in great alarm to 
 Stephen : 
 
38 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 " They must not come in, Stephen. At 
 any cost they must not come in ! " 
 
 " Do not be afraid, madame, they shall 
 not come in," said he. 
 
 " I heard a voice in the house," exclaimed 
 the Sergeant. 
 
 " It is nothing uncommon to hear in a 
 house," said Stephen, and he grasped more 
 firmly his great staff. 
 
 " Will you make way for us?" demanded 
 the Sergeant. " For the last time, will you 
 make way ? " 
 
 Stephen's eyes kindled ; for though he 
 was a man of peace, yet his strength was 
 great and he loved sometimes to use it ; 
 and above all, he loved to use it now at 
 the bidding and i - protection of his dear 
 Princess. So he answered the Sergeant 
 from between set teeth : 
 
 " Over my dead body you can come in." 
 
 Then the Sergeant drew his sword and 
 his men set their halberds in rest, and the 
 Sergeant, crying, " In the King's name!" 
 came at Stephen with drawn sword and 
 struck fiercely at him. But Stephen let 
 the great staff drop on the Sergeant's 
 shoulder, and the Sergeant's arm fell pow- 
 erless by his side. Thereupon the Guards 
 cried aloud, and people began to come out 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 39 
 
 of their houses, seeing that there was a fight 
 at Stephen's door. And Stephen's eyes 
 gleamed, and when the Guards thrust at 
 him, he struck at them, and two of them 
 he stretched senseless on the ground ; for 
 his height and reach were such that he 
 struck them before they could come near 
 enough to touch him, and having no fire- 
 arms they could not bring him down. 
 
 The Princess, now fully dressed in her 
 own garments, came out into the outer room, 
 and stood there looking at Stephen. Her 
 bosom rose and fell, and her eyes grew dim 
 as she looked ; and growing very eager, and 
 being very much moved, she kept murmur- 
 ing to -herself, " I have not said no thrice ! " 
 And she spent no thought on the Countess 
 or her brother, nor on how she was to return 
 undetected to the palace, but saw only the 
 figure of Stephen on the threshold, and 
 heard only the cries of the Guards who 
 assaulted him. It seemed to her a brave 
 thing to have such a man to fight for her, 
 and to offer his life to save her shame. 
 
 Old King Henry was not a patient man, 
 and when he had waited two hours without 
 news of son, daughter, or Countess, he flew 
 into a mighty passion and sent one for his 
 horse, and another for Rudolf's horse, and 
 
4 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 a third for Rudolf himself ; and he drank a 
 draught of wine, and called to Rudolf to 
 accompany him, that they might see for 
 themselves what the lazy hounds of Guards 
 were doing, that they had not yet come up 
 with the quarry. Prince Rudolf laughed 
 and yawned and wished his brother at the 
 devil, but mounted his horse and rode with 
 the King. Thus they traversed the city, 
 riding swiftly, the old King furiously up- 
 braiding every officer and soldier whom he 
 met ; then they rode to the gate ; and all 
 the gate-wardens said that nobody had 
 gone out, save that one gate-warden ad- 
 mitted that two apprentices of Stephen the 
 silversmith had contrived to slip out when 
 the gates were open to let the troopers 
 pass. But the King made nothing of it, 
 and, turning with his son, rode up the street 
 where Stephen lived. Here they came 
 suddenly into the midst of a crowd, that 
 filled all the roadway, and would hardly let 
 the horses move even at a foot's pace. 
 The King cried out angrily, " What is this 
 tumult ? " 
 
 Then the people Icnew him, and, since 
 common folk are always anxious to serve 
 and commend themselves to the great, a 
 score began all at once to tell him what 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith. 41 
 
 had happened, some starting with the fire, 
 some going straight to the fight ; and the 
 King could not make head or tail of the 
 babel of voices and different stories. And 
 Prince Rudolf dropped his reins and sat 
 on his horse laughing. But the King, his 
 patience being clean gone, drew his sword 
 and cried fiercely, " Make way ! " and set 
 his spurs to his horse, not recking whether 
 he hurt any man in life or limb. Thus he 
 gained a passage through the crowd, and 
 came near to Stephen's house, Prince Ru- 
 dolf following in his wake, still greatly 
 amused at all that was happening. 
 
 But the sight they saw there arrested 
 even Prince Rudolfs smiles, and he raised 
 himself in his stirrups with a sudden cry 
 of wonder. For four more of the Guard 
 had come, and there were now six standing 
 round the doorway, and three lay stretched 
 on the ground ; but Stephen the smith 
 still stood on the threshold, with his staff in 
 his hand. Blood flowed from a wound in 
 his head, but he twirled the staff to and 
 fro, and was not weary, and none of the 
 Guard dared to rush in and close with him. 
 Thus he had held the threshold for an 
 hour ; yet the Princess Osra could not 
 escape unless he could drive off the Guard 
 
42 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 for a few moments, and this he hoped to 
 do, thinking that they might draw off and 
 wait for reinforcements ; but in any case he 
 had sworn that they should not pass. And 
 Osra did not pray him to let them pass, but 
 stood motionless in the middle of the room 
 behind him, her hands clasped, her face 
 rigid, and her eyes all aflame with admira- 
 tion of his strength and his courage. 
 
 Thus matters were when the old King 
 and Prince Rudolf broke through the crowd 
 that ringed the house round, and the King 
 cried out, asking what was the meaning of 
 all that he saw. 
 
 But when the King heard that Stephen 
 the smith resisted the officers, would not 
 suffer his house to be searched, had stretched 
 three of the Guards senseless on the ground, 
 and still more than held his own, he fell 
 into a great rage ; he roared out on them 
 all, calling them cowards, and, before his 
 son or any one else could stop him, he 
 drew his sword, and dug his spurs into his 
 horse ; the horse bounded forward and 
 knocked clown one of the Guards who stood 
 round Stephen. Then the King, neither 
 challenging Stephen to yield, nor giving 
 him time to stand aside, being carried away 
 by passion, raised his sword and rode full 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 43 
 
 at him. And the Princess from within 
 caught sight of his face, and she fell on her 
 knees with a moan and hid her face. Then 
 Stephen saw that it was the King and none 
 other who rode against him ; and even had 
 the King given him time, it may be that 
 he would not have yielded, for he was a 
 very resolute man, and he had pledged his 
 promise to Osra the Princess. But he had 
 no time for thought, for the King was on 
 him in the space of a second, and he could 
 do nothing but drop the staff that he held, 
 and stand defenceless in the doorway ; for 
 he would neither strike the King nor yield 
 the passage. But the King, in his fury not 
 heeding that Stephen had dropped his staff, 
 drew back his arm and lunged with his 
 sword, and thrust the smith through the 
 chest ; and Stephen reeled and fell on one 
 knee, and his blood flowed out on the 
 stone of the doorstep. Then the King 
 reined in his horse, and sat looking down 
 on Stephen ; but Rudolf leapt to the 
 ground, and came and caught hold of Ste- 
 phen, supporting him, and asking, " What 
 does it mean, man, what does it mean ? " 
 
 Then Stephen, being very faint with his 
 wound, said with difficulty : " Come in alone 
 you and the King alone." 
 
44 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 Prince Rudolf looked at the King, who 
 sheathed his sword and dismounted from 
 his horse ; the Prince supported Stephen 
 inside the house, and the King followed 
 them, shutting the door on all the people 
 outside. 
 
 Then King Henry saw his daughter, 
 crouching now in the middle of the room, 
 her face hidden in her hands. Surprise and 
 wonder banished his rage and he could not 
 do more than gasp her name, while the 
 Prince, who knelt supporting Stephen, cried 
 to her, asking how she came there ; but she 
 answered nothing. She took her hands 
 from her face and looked at Stephen ; and 
 when she saw that he was hurt and bleeding, 
 she fell to sobbing and hid her face again. 
 And she did not know whether she would 
 have him live or die ; for if he lived he could 
 not be hers, and if he died her heart would 
 ache sorely for him. Then Stephen, being 
 supported by the arms of Prince Rudolf, 
 made shift to speak, and he told the King 
 how, at his persuasion, the Princess had 
 brought the Countess thither ; how he him- 
 self had contrived the presence of the Prince 
 at the same time, how again the Princess 
 had been prevailed upon to aid the lovers ; 
 how they assumed the' disguise of appren- 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 45 
 
 tices ; and how, hearing the arrival of the 
 Guard, they had escaped out into the street ; 
 aud lastly, how that the Prince and the 
 Countess had got out of the city. But he 
 said nothing of the fire at the fruit-seller's, 
 nor of how he himself had bribed the fruit- 
 seller to set the hay on fire, speaking to him 
 from the back windows of the house, and 
 flinging a purse of gold pieces across to 
 him ; nor did this ever become known to the 
 King. And when Stephen had said his say, 
 he fell back very faint in the arms of the 
 Prince ; and the Prince tore a scarf from 
 his waist, and tried to staunch the blood 
 from Stephen's wound. But the old King, 
 who was a hard man, smiled grimly. 
 
 " Indeed he has tricked us finely, this 
 smith, and he is a clever fellow," said he ; 
 " but unless he would rather hang than bleed 
 to death, let his wound be, Rudolf. For by 
 heaven, if you cure him, I will hang him." 
 
 " Do not be afraid, sire," said Stephen ; 
 " the Prince cannot cure me. You still 
 strike straight, though you are hard on 
 seventy." 
 
 " Straight enough for a rascal like you," 
 said the King well pleased ; and he added, 
 " Hold the fellow easily, Rudolf, I would 
 not have him suffer." And this was, they 
 
46 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 say, the only time in all his life that Henry 
 the Lion shewed a sign of pity to any 
 man. 
 
 But Stephen was now very faint, and he 
 cast his eyes towards the Princess ; and 
 Rudolf followed his eyes. Now Rudolf had 
 an affection for Stephen, and he loved his 
 sister, and was a man of soft heart ; so he 
 cried gently to Osra, " Come, sister, and 
 help me with him." And she rose, and 
 came and sat down by the wall, and gathered 
 Stephen's head into her lap ; and there he 
 lay, looking up at her, with a smile on his 
 lips. But still he bled, and his blood stained 
 the white cloak that she wore over her robe ; 
 and her tears dropped on his face. But 
 Rudolf took his father by the arm, and led 
 him a little way off, saying : 
 
 " What matter, sire ? The girl is young, 
 and the man is dying. Let them be." 
 
 The old King, grumbling, let himself be 
 led away ; and perhaps even he was moved, 
 for he forgot Prince Henry and the Coun- 
 tess, and did not think of sending men in 
 pursuit of them, for which reason they ob- 
 tained a fair and long start in their flight. 
 
 Then Stephen, looking up at Osra, said : 
 
 " Do not weep, madame. They will es- 
 cape now, and they will be happy." 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 47 
 
 " I was not weeping for them," said the 
 Princess. 
 
 Stephen was silent for a little, and then 
 he said : 
 
 " In very truth it was no trick, madame ; 
 it was even as I said, from the first day that 
 you rode along the street here ; it was al- 
 ways the same in my heart, and would 
 always have been, however long I had. 
 lived." 
 
 " I do not doubt it, Stephen ; and it is 
 not for doubt of it that I weep," said she. 
 
 Then, after a little while, he said : 
 
 " Do you weep, madame, because I am 
 dying?" 
 
 "Yes, I weep for that." 
 
 "Would you have me live, madame ?" 
 he asked. 
 
 " No, I would not no but I do not 
 know," she said. 
 
 Then Stephen the smith smiled, and his 
 smile was happy. 
 
 " Yet," said he, " it would make small 
 difference to the Princess Osra whether Ste- 
 phen the smith lived or died." 
 
 At this, although he lay there a dying 
 man, a sudden flush of red spread all over 
 her cheeks, and she turned her eyes away 
 from his, and would not meet his glance ; 
 
48 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 she made him no answer, and he said 
 again : 
 
 "What can it concern the Princess 
 whether I live or die ? " 
 
 Still the blush burnt on her cheek, and 
 still she had no answer to give to Stephen, 
 as he lay dying with his head on her lap. 
 And a bright gleam came into his eyes, and 
 he tried to move a hand towards her hand ; 
 and she, seeing the effort, put out her hand 
 and held his ; and he whispered very low, 
 for he could hardly speak : 
 
 " You have not yet refused me three times, 
 madame." 
 
 At that her eyes came back to his, and 
 their eyes dwelt long on one another. And 
 for a moment it seemed to them that all 
 things became possible, life and joy and 
 love. Yet since all could not be, they were 
 content that none should be. 
 
 Then the Princess bent low over his head, 
 and she whispered to him : 
 
 " No, I have not refused you thrice, Ste- 
 phen." 
 
 His lips just moved once again, and, being 
 very near him, she heard : 
 
 " And you will not ?" he said. 
 
 " No," said she, and she kissed his lips, 
 and he smiled and turned on his side ; and 
 
The Happiness of Stephen the Smith* 49 
 
 he nestled his head, as it were cosily, on 
 her lap, and he said no more. 
 
 Thus died Stephen the silversmith of 
 Strelsan, happy in his death because Osra 
 the Princess had not refused him thrice. 
 And she laid him gently on the ground, and 
 rose, and went across to where the King sat 
 with Rudolf. 
 
 " Sire, he is dead," said she. 
 
 " It is well," said the King. And he bade 
 Rudolf go and cause all the people to leave 
 the streets, and return to their houses ; and 
 when all the streets were cleared, the Prin- 
 cess veiled herself, and her brother mounted 
 her on his horse, and thus she rode back to 
 the palace ; and none knew that she had 
 been in the house of Stephen the silver- 
 smith. 
 
 And after many months Prince Henry, 
 who had made good his escape and married 
 the lady whom he loved, was reconciled to 
 his father and returned to the city of Strel- 
 sau. And when he heard how Stephen had 
 died, he raised a stately monument over him, 
 and had carved on it his name, and the day 
 and year in which he had died ; and under- 
 neath he caused to be engraved the words, 
 " From a Friend to a Friend." But when 
 this monument had stood three days in its 
 
$o The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 place, there came thither a lady closely 
 veiled ; she prayed on her knees by the mon- 
 ument for a long while, and then rose and 
 stood regarding it ; and her eyes rested on 
 the last words that Prince Henry had 
 written on the stone. Then she came nearer, 
 and kissed the words, and, when she had 
 kissed them, she whispered softly, " From a 
 Lover to a Lover " ; and, having whispered 
 this, she turned away and went back to the 
 palace, and came no more to the tomb, for 
 fear that the people should remark her com- 
 ing. Yet often in the days that followed 
 she would open the window of her bed- 
 chamber by night, and she would whisper 
 to the silent trusty darkness, that holds 
 secrets and comforts sore hearts : 
 " Not thrice, Stephen, not thrice ! " 
 Therefore it may be that there had been 
 a sweet madness in her heart, and that 
 Stephen the silversmith had done a great 
 thing, a thing that would appear impossible, 
 before he died. And, as Prince Rudolf said, 
 what matter ? For the girl was young, and 
 the dream was sweet, and the man was dead, 
 and in death at last are all men equal. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 The Wager of the Marquis de Merosailles* 
 
 IN the year 1734, as spring began, there 
 arrived at Strelsau a French nobleman of 
 high rank and great possessions, endowed 
 also with many accomplishments. He came 
 to visit Prince Rudolf, whose acquaintance 
 he had made while the Prince was at Paris 
 in the course of his travels. King Henry 
 received M. de Merosailles for such was 
 his name most graciously, and sent a guard 
 of honour to conduct him to the Castle of 
 Zenda, where the Prince was then staying 
 in company with his sister Osra. There 
 the Marquis, on his arrival, was greeted 
 with much joy by Prince Rudolf, who found 
 his sojourn in the country somewhat irk- 
 some and was glad of the society of a 
 friend with whom he could talk, and sport, 
 and play at cards. All these things he did 
 with M. de Merosailles, and a great friend- 
 ship arose between the young men, so that 
 they spoke very freely to one another at all 
 
5 2 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 times, and most of all when they had drunk 
 their wine and sat together in the evening 
 in Prince Rudolfs chamber that looked 
 across the moat towards the gardens ; for 
 the new chdteau that now stands on the site 
 of these gardens was not then built. And 
 one night M. de Merosailles made bold to 
 ask the Prince how it fell out that his sister 
 the Princess, a lady of such great beauty, 
 seemed sad, and shewed no pleasure in the 
 society of any gentleman, but treated all 
 alike with coldness and disdain. Prince 
 Rudolf, laughing, answered that girls were 
 strange creatures, and that he had ceased 
 to trouble his head about them (of his heart 
 he said nothing) and he finished by exclaim- 
 ing : "On my honour, I doubt if she so 
 much as knows you are here, for she has 
 not looked at you once since your arrival ! " 
 And he smiled maliciously, for he knew that 
 the Marquis was not accustomed to be neg- 
 lected by ladies, and would take it ill that 
 even a Princess should be unconscious of 
 his presence. In this he calculated rightly, 
 for M. de Merosailles was greatly vexed, 
 and, twisting his glass in his fingers, he said : 
 " If she were not a Princess, and your 
 sister, sir, I would engage to make her look 
 at me." 
 
The Wager of the Marquis de Merosailles* 53 
 
 " I am not hurt by her looking at you," 
 rejoined the Prince : for that evening he 
 was very merry. " A look is no great 
 thing." 
 
 The Marquis, being no less merry, and 
 knowing that Rudolf had not the regard for 
 his dignity that a Prince should have, threw 
 out carelessly : 
 
 " A kiss is more, sir." 
 
 "It is a great deal more," laughed the 
 Prince, tugging his moustache. 
 
 " Are you ready for a wager, sir ? " asked 
 M. de Merosailles, leaning across the table 
 towards him. 
 
 " I'll lay you a thousand crowns to a 
 hundred that you do not gain a kiss, using 
 what means you will, save force." 
 
 " I'll take that wager, sir," cried the Mar- 
 quis. " But it shall be three, not one." 
 
 " Have a care," said the Prince. " Don't 
 go too near the flame, my lord ! There are 
 some wings in Strelsau singed at that can- 
 die." 
 
 " Indeed the light is very bright," as- 
 sented the Marquis courteously. " That 
 risk I must run, though, if I am to win my 
 wager. It is to be three then, and by what 
 means I will, save force?" 
 
 " Even so," said Rudolf, and he laughed 
 
54 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 again. For he thought the wager harmless, 
 since by no device could M. de Merosailles 
 win so much as one kiss from the Princess 
 Osra, and the wager stood at three. But he 
 did not think how he wronged his sister by 
 using her name lightly, being in all such 
 matters a man of careless mind. 
 
 But the Marquis, having made his wager, 
 set himself steadily to win it. Therefore he 
 brought forth the choicest clothes from his 
 wardrobe, and ornaments, and perfumes ; 
 and he laid fine presents at the Princess's 
 feet ; and he waylaid her wherever she went, 
 and was profuse of glances, sighs, and hints ; 
 and he wrote sonnets, as fine gentlemen used 
 in those days, and lyrics and pastorals, 
 wherein she figured under charming names. 
 These he bribed the Princess's waiting- 
 women to leave in their mistress's chamber. 
 Moreover he looked now sorrowful, now 
 passionate, and he ate nothing at dinner, 
 but drank his wine in wild gulps, as though 
 he sought to banish sadness. So that, in a 
 word, there was no device in Cupid's 
 armoury that the Marquis de Merosailles 
 did not practise in the endeavour to win a 
 look from the Princess Osra. But no look 
 came, and he got nothing from her but cold 
 civility. Yet she had looked at him when 
 
The Wager of the Marquis de Merosailles* 55 
 
 he looked not for Princesses are much like 
 other maidens and thought him a very 
 pretty gentleman, and was highly amused 
 by his extravagance. Yet she did not be- 
 lieve it to witness any true devotion to her, 
 but thought it mere gallantry. 
 
 Then, one day, M. de Merosailles, having 
 tried all else that he could think of, took to 
 his bed. He sent for a physician, and paid 
 him a high fee to find the seeds of a rapid and 
 fatal disease in him : and he made his body- 
 servant whiten his face and darken his room ; 
 and he groaned very pitifully, saying that he 
 was sick, and that he was glad of it ; for 
 death would be better far than the con- 
 tinued disdain of the Princess Osra. And 
 all this, being told by the Marquis's servants 
 to the Princess's waiting-women, reached 
 Osra's ears, and caused her much perturba- 
 tion. For she now perceived that the pas- 
 sion of the Marquis was real and deep, and 
 she became very sorry for him : the longer 
 the face [of the rascally physician grew the 
 more sad the Princess became : she walked 
 up and down, bewailing the terrible effects 
 of her beauty, wishing that she were not so 
 fair, and mourning very tenderly for the 
 sad plight of the unhappy Marquis. 
 
 Through all Prince Rudolf looked on, but 
 
56 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 was bound by his wager not to undeceive 
 her ; moreover he found much entertainment 
 in the matter, and swore that it was worth 
 three times a thousand crowns. 
 
 At last the Marquis sent by the mouth 
 of his physician a very humble and pitiful 
 message to the Princess, in which he spoke 
 of himself as near to death, hinted at the 
 cruel cause of his condition, and prayed her 
 of compassion to visit him in his chamber, 
 and speak a word of comfort, or at least let 
 him look on her face : for the brightness of 
 her eyes, he said, might cure even what it 
 had caused. 
 
 Deceived by this appeal, Princess Osra 
 agreed to go ; moved by some strange im- 
 pulse, she put on her choicest array, dressed 
 her hair most splendidly, and came into the 
 chamber looking like a goddess. There lay 
 the Marquis, white as a ghost and languid 
 on his pillows ; and they were left, as they 
 thought, alone. Then Osra sat down and 
 began to talk very gently and kindly to him, 
 glancing only at the madness which brought 
 him to his sad state, and imploring him to 
 summon his resolution, and conquer his 
 sickness for his friends' sake at home in 
 France, and for the sake of her brother, 
 who loved him. 
 
THE PHYSICIAN RECEIVES PRINCESS OSRA. Page 56. 
 
The Wager of the Marquis de Me>osailles. 57 
 
 " There is nobody who loves me," said the 
 Marquis petulantly ; and when Osra cried 
 out at this, he went on, " For the love of 
 those whom I do not love is nothing to me, 
 and the only soul alive I love There 
 
 he stopped, but his eyes, fixed on Osra's 
 face, ended the sentence for him. And she 
 blushed, and looked away. Then thinking 
 the moment was come, he burst suddenly 
 into a flood of protestations and self-re- 
 proach, cursing himself for a fool and a 
 presumptuous madman, pitifully craving her 
 pardon, and declaring that he did not de- 
 serve her kindness, and yet that he could 
 not live without it, and that anyhow he 
 would be dead soon, and thus cease to trouble 
 her. But she, being thus passionately 
 assailed, showed such sweet tenderness and 
 compunction and pity, that M. de M^ro- 
 sailles came very near to forgetting that he 
 was playing a comedy, and threw himself 
 into his part with eagerness, redoubling his 
 vehemence, and feeling now full half of 
 what he said. For the Princess was to his 
 eyes far more beautiful in her softer mood. 
 Yet he remembered his wager, and, at last, 
 when she was nearly in tears and ready, as 
 it seemed, to do anything to give him com- 
 fort, he cried desperately : 
 
58 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 " Ah, leave, leave me ! Leave me to die 
 alone ! Yet, for pity's sake, before you go, 
 and before I die, give me your forgiveness, 
 and let your lips touch my forehead in token 
 of it. Then I shall die in peace." 
 
 At that the Princess blushed still more, 
 and her eyes were wet, and shone, for she 
 was deeply touched at his misery and at the 
 sad prospect of the death for love of so gal- 
 lant a gentleman. Thus she could scarcely 
 speak for emotion ; and the Marquis seeing 
 her emotion was himself deeply affected ; 
 and she rose from her chair, and bent over 
 him, and whispered comfort to him. Then 
 she leant down, and very lightly touched 
 his forehead with her lips ; he felt her 
 eyelashes, which were wet with tears, brush 
 the skin of his forehead ; and then she 
 sobbed and covered her face with her hands. 
 Indeed his state seemed to her most pitiful. 
 
 Thus M. de Merosailles had won one of 
 his three kisses ; yet, strange to tell, there 
 was no triumph in him, but now he per- 
 ceived the baseness of his device ; and the 
 sweet kindness of the Princess, working 
 together with the great beauty of her 
 softened manner, so affected him that he 
 thought no more of his wager and could 
 not endure to carry on his deception ; noth- 
 
The Wager of the Marquis de Merosailles. 59 
 
 ing would serve his turn but to confess to 
 the Princess what he had done, humbling 
 himself in the dust before her, and entreat- 
 ing her to pardon him and let him find for- 
 giveness. 
 
 Impelled by these feelings, after he had 
 lain still a few moments listening to the 
 Princess weeping, he leapt suddenly out of 
 bed, showing himself fully dressed under 
 the bed-gown which he now eagerly tore 
 off ; and he rubbed all the white he could 
 from his cheeks, and then he fell on his 
 knees before the Princess, crying to her that 
 he had played the meanest trick on her, and 
 that he was a scoundrel, and no gentleman, 
 and that unless she forgave him he should 
 in very truth die ; nay, that he would not 
 consent to live unless he could win from her 
 pardon for his deceit. And in all this he 
 was now absolutely in earnest, wondering 
 only how he had not been as passionately 
 enamoured of her from the first as he had 
 feigned himself to be. For a man in love 
 can never conceive himself out of it, nor he 
 that is out of it in it ; for if he can, he is half 
 way to the one or the other, however 
 little he may know it. 
 
 At first the Princess sat as though she 
 were turned to stone : but when he finished 
 
62 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 vants and the falconers might not overhear. 
 " I ride, sir, to my own funeral." 
 
 " The jest is still afoot, then ? " asked the 
 Prince. " Yet I do not see my sister at the 
 window to watch you go, and I warrant 
 you have made no way with your wager 
 yet." 
 
 " A thousand curses on my wager ! " cried 
 the Marquis. " Yes, I have made way with 
 the accursed thing, and that is why I now 
 go to my death." 
 
 "What, has she kissed you?" cried the 
 Prince, with a merry astonished laugh. 
 
 " Yes, sir, she has kissed me once, and 
 therefore I go to die." 
 
 " I have heard of many a better reason, 
 then," answered the Prince. 
 
 By now the Prince had dismounted, and 
 he stood by M. de Merosailles in the middle 
 of the bridge, and heard from him how the 
 trick had prospered. At this he was much 
 tickled, and, alas, he was even more diverted 
 when the penitence of the Marquis was 
 revealed to him, and was most of all moved 
 to merriment when it appeared that the 
 Marquis, having gone too near the candle, 
 had been caught by its flame, and was so 
 terribly singed and scorched that he could 
 not bear to live. And while they talked on 
 
The Wager of the Marquis de M&osailles. 63 
 
 the bridge the Princess looked out on them 
 from a lofty narrow window, but neither of 
 them saw her. But when the Prince had 
 done laughing, he put his arm through his 
 friend's and bade him not be a fool, but 
 come in and toast the Princess's kiss in a 
 draught of wine. " For," he said, " though 
 you will never get the other two, yet it is a 
 brave exploit to have got one." 
 
 But the Marquis shook his head, and his 
 air was so resolute, and so full of sorrow, 
 that not only was Rudolf alarmed for his 
 reason, but Princess Osra also, at the win- 
 dow, wondered what ailed him and why he 
 wore such a long face ; and now she noticed 
 that he was dressed all in black, and that his 
 horse waited for him across the bridge. 
 
 " Not," said she, "that I care what be- 
 comes of the impudent rogue ! " Yet she 
 did not leave the window, but watched very 
 intently to see what M. de Merosailles 
 would do. 
 
 For a long while he talked with Rudolf 
 on the bridge, Rudolf seeming more serious 
 than he was wont to be ; and at last the 
 Marquis bent to kiss the Prince's hand, and 
 the Prince raised him and kissed him on 
 either cheek ; then the Marquis went and 
 mounted his horse, and rode off, slowly and 
 
64 The Heart of Princess Osra 
 
 unattended, into the glades of the forest of 
 Zenda ; but the Prince, with a shrug of the 
 shoulders and a frown on his brow, entered 
 under the portcullis, and disappeared from 
 his sister's view. 
 
 Upon this the Princess, assuming an air 
 of great carelessness, walked down from the 
 room where she was, and found her brother, 
 sitting still in his boots and drinking wine ; 
 and she said : 
 
 " M. de Merosailles has taken his leave 
 then?" 
 
 " Even so, madame," rejoined Rudolf. 
 
 Then she broke into a fierce attack on 
 the Marquis, and on her brother also ; for a 
 man, said she, is known by his friends, and 
 what a man Rudolf must be to have a 
 friend like the Marquis de Merosailles ! 
 
 " Most brothers," she said in fiery tem- 
 per, " would make him answer for what he 
 has done with his life. But you laugh, nay, 
 I daresay you had a hand in it." 
 
 As to this last charge the Prince had the 
 discretion to say nothing ; he chose rather 
 to answer the first part of what she said, 
 and shrugging his shoulders again rejoined : 
 
 " The fool saves me the trouble, for he 
 has gone off to kill himself." 
 
 " To kill himself ? " she said, half incredu- 
 
The Wage* of the Marquis de Me>osailles 65 
 
 lous, but also half believing, because of the 
 Marquis's gloomy looks and black clothes. 
 
 " To kill himself," repeated Rudolf. " For 
 in the first place you are angry, so he cannot 
 live ; in the second he has behaved like a 
 rogue, so he cannot live ; and in the third 
 place you are so lovely, sister, that he can- 
 not live ; and in the first, second, and third 
 places he is a fool, so he cannot live." And 
 the Prince finished his flagon of wine with 
 every sign of ill-humour in his manner. 
 
 " He is well dead," she cried. 
 
 " Oh, as you please," said he. " He is not 
 the first brave man who has died on your 
 account." And he rose and strode out of 
 the room very surlily ; for he had a great 
 friendship for M. de Merosailles, and had 
 no patience with men who let love make 
 dead bones of them. 
 
 The Princess Osra, being left alone, sat 
 for a little time in deep thought. There 
 rose before her mind the picture of M. de 
 Merosailles riding mournfully through the 
 gloom of the forest to his death. And 
 although his conduct had been all and more 
 than all that she had called it, yet it seemed 
 hard that he should die for it. Moreover, 
 if he now in truth felt what he had before 
 feigned, the present truth was an atonement 
 
66 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 for the past treachery ; and she said to her- 
 self that she could not sleep quietly that 
 night if the Marquis killed himself in the 
 forest. Presently she wandered slowly up 
 to her chamber, and looked in the mirror, 
 and murmured low, " Poor fellow ! " and 
 then with sudden speed she attired herself 
 for riding, and commanded her horse to be 
 saddled, and darted down the stairs and 
 across the bridge, and mounted, and, for- 
 bidding any one to accompany her, rode 
 away into the forest, following the marks 
 of the hoofs of M. de Me'rosailles's horse. 
 It was then late afternoon, and the slanting 
 rays of the sun, striking through the tree- 
 trunks, reddened her face as she rode along, 
 spurring her horse, and following hard on 
 the track of the forlorn gentleman. But 
 what she intended to do if she came up with 
 him she did not think. 
 
 When she had ridden an hour or more, 
 she saw his horse tethered to a trunk ; and 
 there was a ring of trees and bushes near, 
 encircling an open grassy spot. Herself 
 dismounting, and fastening her horse by 
 the Marquis's horse, she stole up, and saw 
 M. de Merosailles sitting on the ground, 
 his drawn sword lying beside him ; and his 
 back was towards her. She held her breath 
 
'SHE SAW M. de MKROSAILLES SITTING ON THE GROUND." Page 66. 
 \ 
 
The Wager of the Marquis de M&osailles* 67 
 
 and waited a few moments. Then he took 
 up the sword and felt the point and also the 
 edge of it, and sighed deeply ; and the 
 Princess thought that this sorrowful mood 
 became him better than any she had seen 
 him in before. Then he rose to his feet, 
 and took his sword by the blade beneath the 
 hilt, and turned the point of it towards his 
 heart. But Osra, fearing that the deed 
 would be done immediately, called out 
 eagerly, "My lord, my lord!" and M. de 
 Merosailles turned round with a great start. 
 When he saw her, he stood in astonishment, 
 his hand still holding the blade of the sword. 
 And, standing just on the other side of the 
 trees, she said : 
 
 " Is your offence against me to be cured 
 by adding an offence against Heaven and the 
 Church ? " 
 
 And she looked on him with great severity, 
 yet her cheek was flushed, and after a while 
 she did not meet his glance. 
 
 11 How came you here, madame?" he 
 asked in wonder. 
 
 " I heard," she said, " that you meditated 
 this great sin, and I rode after you to forbid 
 it." 
 
 "Can you forbid what you cause?" he 
 asked. 
 
68 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 " I am not the cause of it," she said, " but 
 your own trickery." 
 
 " It is true. I am not worthy to live," 
 cried the Marquis, smiting the hilt of his 
 sword on the ground. " I pray you, madame, 
 leave me alone to die. For I cannot tear 
 myself from the world so long as I see your 
 face." And as he spoke he knelt on one 
 knee, as though he were doing homage to her. 
 
 The Princess caught at the bough of the 
 tree under which she stood, and pulled the 
 bough down, so that its leaves half hid her 
 face, and the Marquis saw little more than 
 her eyes from among the foliage. Thus 
 being better able to speak to him, she said 
 softly : 
 
 " And dare you die, unforgiven ?" 
 
 " I had prayed for forgiveness before you 
 found me, madame," said he. 
 
 " Of heaven, my lord?" 
 
 " Of heaven, madame. For of heaven I 
 dare to ask it." 
 
 The bough swayed up and down ; now 
 Osra's gleaming hair, and now her cheek, 
 and always her eyes were seen through the 
 leaves. And presently the Marquis heard a 
 voice asking : 
 
 "Does heaven forgive unasked ?" 
 
 "Indeed, no," he said, wondering. 
 
The Wager of the Marquis de M&osailles, 69 
 
 "And," she said, " are we poor mortals 
 kinder than heaven ? " 
 
 The Marquis rose, and took a step or two 
 towards where the bough swayed up and 
 down, and then knelt again. 
 
 " A great sinner," said he, " cannot believe 
 himself forgiven." 
 
 " Then he wrongs the power of which he 
 seeks forgiveness ; for forgiveness is divine." 
 
 " Then I will ask it, and, if I obtain it, I 
 shall die happy." 
 
 Again the bough swayed : and Osra 
 said : 
 
 " Nay, if you will die, you may die unfor- 
 given." 
 
 M. de Merosailles hearing these words 
 sprang to his feet, and came towards the 
 bough, until he was so close that he touched 
 the green leaves ; through them the eyes 
 of Osra gleamed : the sun's rays struck on 
 her eyes, and they danced in the sun ; and 
 her cheeks were reddened by the same or 
 some other cause. And the evening was 
 very still, and there were no sounds in the 
 forest. 
 
 " I cannot believe that you forgive. The 
 crime is so great," said he. 
 
 " It was great : yet I forgive." 
 
 " I cannot believe it," said he again, and 
 
70 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 he looked at the point of his sword, and then 
 he looked through the leaves at the Prin- 
 cess. 
 
 " I cannot do more than say that if you 
 will live, I will forgive. And we will forget." 
 
 " By heaven, no," he whispered. " If I 
 must forget to be forgiven, then I will 
 remember and be unforgiven." 
 
 The faintest laugh reached him from 
 among the foliage. 
 
 " Then I will forget, and you shall be for- 
 given," said she. 
 
 The Marquis put up his hand, and held a 
 leaf aside, and he said again : 
 
 " I cannot believe myself forgiven. Is 
 there no token of forgiveness ?" 
 
 " Pray, my lord, do not put the leaves 
 aside." 
 
 11 I still must die, unless I have sure war- 
 rant of forgiveness." 
 
 " Ah, you try to make me think that ! " 
 
 " By heaven, it is true ! " And again he 
 pointed his sword at his heart, and he swore 
 on his honour that unless she gave him a 
 token he would still kill himself. 
 
 " Oh," said the Princess with great petu- 
 lance, " I wish I had not come ! " 
 
 " Then I should have been dead by now 
 dead, unforgiven." 
 
The Wager of the Marquis de Merosailles* 7 1 
 
 " But you will still die ! " 
 
 " Yes, I must still die, unless " 
 
 " Sheathe your sword, my lord. The sun 
 strikes it, and it dazzles my eyes." 
 
 " That cannot be : for your eyes are 
 brighter than sun and sword together." 
 
 "Then I must shade them with the leaves." 
 
 " Yes, shade them with the leaves," he 
 whispered. " Madame, is there no token 
 of forgiveness ? " 
 
 In the silence that followed his eyes spoke, 
 at last she said : 
 
 ''Why did you swear on your honour?" 
 
 " Because it is an oath that I cannot 
 break." 
 
 " Indeed I wish that I had not come," 
 sighed Princess Osra. 
 
 Again came silence. The bough was 
 pressed down for an instant ; then it swayed 
 swiftly up again ; and its leaves brushed the 
 cheek of M. de Merosailles. And he 
 laughed loudly and joyfully. 
 
 " Something touched my cheek," said he. 
 
 " It must have been a leaf," said Princess 
 Osra. 
 
 -Ah, a leaf!" 
 
 " I think so," said Princess Osra. 
 
 " Then it was a leaf of the Tree of Life," 
 said M. de Merosailles. 
 
72 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 " I wish some one would set me on my 
 horse," said Osra. 
 
 " That you may ride back to the castle 
 alone ? " 
 
 "Yes, unless you would relieve my 
 brother's anxiety." 
 
 " It would be courteous to do that much," 
 said the Marquis. 
 
 So they mounted, and rode back through 
 the forest. 
 
 In an hour the Princess had come, and in 
 the space of something over two hours they 
 returned ; yet during all this time they spoke 
 hardly a word : and although the sun was 
 now set, yet the glow remained on the face 
 and in the eyes of Princess Osra ; while M. 
 de Merosailles, being forgiven, rode with a 
 smile on his lips. 
 
 But when they came to the castle, Prince 
 Rudolf ran out to meet them, and he cried 
 almost before he reached them : 
 
 " Hasten, hasten ! There is not a mo- 
 ment to lose, if the Marquis values life or 
 liberty ! " And when he came to them he 
 told them that a waiting-woman had been 
 false to M. de Merosailles and, after taking 
 his money, had hid herself in his chamber, 
 and seen the first kiss that the Princess 
 gave him, and, having made some pretext to 
 
The Wager of the Marquis de Merosailles* 73 
 
 gain a holiday, had gone to the King, who 
 was hunting near, and betrayed the whole 
 matter to him. 
 
 " And one of my gentlemen," he contin- 
 ued, " has ridden here to tell me. In an 
 hour the Guards will be here, and if the 
 King catches you, my lord, you will hang 
 as sure as I live." 
 
 The Princess turned very pale, but M. de 
 Merosailles said haughtily, " I ask your 
 pardon, sir, but the King dares not hang me. 
 For I am a gentleman and a subject of the 
 King of France." 
 
 " Man, man ! " cried Rudolf. " The Lion 
 will hang you first, and think of all that af- 
 terwards ! Come now, it is dusk. You shall 
 dress yourself as my groom, and I will ride 
 to the frontier, and you shall ride behind me, 
 and thus you may get safe away. I cannot 
 have you hanged over such a trifle." 
 
 " I would have given my life willingly 
 for what you call a trifle, sir," said the Mar- 
 quis with a bow to Osra. 
 
 " Then have the trifle and life too," said 
 Rudolf derisively. " Come in with me, and 
 I will give you your livery ! " 
 
 When the Prince and M. de Merosailles 
 came out again on the drawbridge the even- 
 ing had fallen, and it was dark ; their horses 
 
74 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 stood at the end of the bridge, and by the 
 horses stood the Princess. 
 
 " Quick ! " said she. " For a peasant who 
 came in, bringing a load of wood, saw a troop 
 of men coming over the crown of the hill, 
 and he says they are the King's Guard." 
 
 " Mount, man ! " cried the Prince to M. 
 de Merosailles, who was now dressed as a 
 groom. " Perhaps we can get clear, or per- 
 haps they will not dare to stop me." 
 
 But the Marquis hesitated a little, for he 
 did not like to run away ; but the Princess 
 ran a little forward and, shading her eyes 
 with her hand, cried, " See there ! I see the 
 gleam of steel in the dark. They have 
 reached the top of the hill, and are riding 
 down." 
 
 Then Prince Rudolf sprang on his horse, 
 calling again to M. de Merosailles, " Quick, 
 quick ! Your life hangs on it ! " 
 
 Then at last the Marquis, though he was 
 most reluctant to depart, was about to spring 
 on his horse, when the Princess turned and 
 glided back swiftly to them. And let it be 
 remembered that evening had fallen thick 
 and black she came to her brother and put 
 out her hand, and grasped his hand, and 
 said : 
 
 " My lord, I forgive your wrong, and I 
 
The Wager of the Marquis de Me'rosailles* 75 
 
 thank you for your courtesy, and I wish 
 you farewell." 
 
 Prince Rudolf, astonished, gazed at her 
 without speaking. But she, moving very 
 quickly in spite of the darkness, ran to 
 where M. de Merosailles was about to spring 
 on his horse, and she flung* one arm lightly 
 about his neck, and she said : 
 
 " Farewell, dear brother, God preserve 
 you. See that no harm comes to my good 
 friend, M. de Merosailles." And she kissed 
 him lightly on the cheek. Then she sud- 
 denly gave a loud cry of dismay, exclaiming, 
 " Alas, what have I done ? Ah, what have I 
 done?" and she hid her face in her two hands. 
 
 Prince Rudolf burst into a loud short 
 laugh, yet he said nothing to his sister, but 
 again urged the Marquis to mount his 
 horse. And the Marquis, who was in a sad 
 tumult of triumph and of woe, leapt up ; and 
 they rode out, and turning their faces to- 
 wards the forest, set spurs to their horses 
 and vanished at a breakneck speed into the 
 glades. And no sooner were they gone 
 than the troopers of the King's Guard clat- 
 tered at a canter up to the end of the 
 bridge, where the Princess Osra stood. 
 But when their captain saw the Princess, 
 he drew rein. 
 
7 6 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 "What is your errand, sir?" she asked 
 most coldly and haughtily. 
 
 " Madame, we are ordered to bring the 
 Marquis de Merosailles alive or dead into 
 the King's presence, and we have informa- 
 tion that he is in the castle, unless, indeed, 
 he were one of the horsemen who rode 
 away just now." 
 
 " The horsemen you saw were my brother 
 the Prince and his groom," said Osra. 
 " But if you think that M. de Merosailles is 
 in the castle, pray search the castle from 
 keep to cellar; and if you find him, carry 
 him to my father, according to your orders." 
 
 Then the troopers dismounted in great 
 haste, and ransacked the castle from keep 
 to cellar ; and they found the clothes of 
 the Marquis, and the white powder with 
 which f he had whitened his face, but the 
 Marquis they did not find. So the captain 
 came again to the Princess, who still stood 
 at the end of the bridge, and said : 
 
 " Madame, he is not in the castle." 
 
 " Is he not ?" said she, and turned away, 
 and, walking to the middle of the bridge, 
 looked down into the water of the moat. 
 
 " Was it in truth the Prince's groom who 
 rode with him, madame ? " asked the cap- 
 tain, following her. 
 
The Wager of the Marquis de Me>osailles* 77 
 
 " In truth, sir, it was so dark," answered 
 the Princess, " that I could not myself 
 clearly distinguish the man's face." 
 
 " One was the Prince, for I saw you em- 
 brace him, madame." 
 
 " You do well to conclude that that was 
 my brother," said Osra, smiling a little. 
 
 " And to the other, madame, you gave 
 your hand." 
 
 " And now I give it to you," said she 
 with haughty insolence. " And if to my 
 father's servant, why not to my brother's?" 
 And she held out her hand that he might 
 kiss it, and turned away from him, and 
 looked down into the water again. 
 
 " But we found M. de Merosailles's 
 clothes in the castle ! " persisted the cap- 
 tain. 
 
 " He may well have left something of his 
 in the castle," said the Princess. 
 
 "I will ride after them ! " cried the cap- 
 tain. 
 
 " I doubt if you will catch them," smiled 
 the Princess ; for by now the pair had been 
 gone half an hour, and the frontier was but 
 ten miles from the castle, and they could 
 not be overtaken. Yet the captain rode off 
 with his men, and pursued till he met 
 Prince Rudolf returning alone, having seen 
 
78 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 M. de Merosailles safe on his way. And 
 Rudolf had paid the sum of a thousand 
 crowns to the Marquis, so that the fugitive 
 was well provided for his journey, and, 
 travelling with many relays of horses, made 
 good his escape from the clutches of King 
 Henry. 
 
 But the Princess Osra stayed a long time 
 looking down at the water in the moat. 
 Sometimes she sighed, and then, again, 
 she frowned, and, although nobody was 
 there, and it was very dark into the bar- 
 gain, more than once she blushed. And at 
 last she turned to go into the castle. But, 
 as she went, she murmured softly to her- 
 self : 
 
 " Why I kissed him the first time I know ; 
 it was in pity. And why I kissed him the 
 second time I know ; it was in forgiveness. 
 But why I kissed him the third time, or 
 what that kiss meant," said Osra, " heaven 
 knows." 
 
 And she went in with a smile on her lips. 
 
CHAPTER IE* 
 The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhousc* 
 
 " SEEING that my father Henry is dead, 
 and that I am King ; seeing also that I am 
 no longer a bachelor, but a married man " 
 and here he bowed to Margaret of Tus- 
 cany, his newly wedded wife; "and seeing 
 that Osra's turned twenty years of age 
 why, we are all to be sober folk at Strelsau 
 from this day forward, and we are to play 
 no more pranks. Here's a pledge to it ! " 
 
 And having said this, King Rudolf III. 
 took a deep draught of wine. 
 
 At this moment the ushers announced 
 that the Lord Harry Culverhouse had come 
 to take his leave of their Majesties and of 
 the Princess. This gentleman had accom- 
 panied the Embassy that came from Eng- 
 land to congratulate the King on his mar- 
 riage, and he had stayed some months in 
 Strelsau, very eagerly acceding to the King's 
 invitation to prolong his visit. For such 
 were his folly and headstrong passion, that 
 
8o The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 he had fallen most desperately in love with 
 the fair face of Princess Osra, and could not 
 endure to live out of her presence. Yet 
 now he came to bid farewell, and when he 
 was ushered in, Rudolf received him with 
 much graciousness, and made him a present 
 of his own miniature set in diamonds, while 
 the Queen gave him her miniature set in 
 the lid of a golden casket. In return, Lord 
 Harry prayed the King to accept a richly- 
 mounted sword, and the Queen an ivory fan, 
 painted by the greatest artist of France and 
 bearing her cipher in jewels. Then he came 
 to Princess Osra, and she, having bidden 
 him farewell, said : 
 
 " I am a poor maid, my lord, and I can 
 give no great gift, but take this pin from 
 my hair and keep it for my sake." 
 
 And she drew out a golden pin from her 
 hair, a long and sharp pin, bearing for its 
 head her cipher in brilliants, and she gave it 
 to him, smiling. 
 
 But he, bowing low and then falling on 
 his knee, offered her a box of red morocco 
 leather, and when she opened it she saw a 
 necklace of rubies of great splendour. The 
 Princess flushed red, seeing that the gift 
 was most costly. And she would fain have 
 refused it, and held it out again to Lord 
 
The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse, 81 
 
 Harry. But he turned swiftly away, and, 
 bowing once more, withdrew. Then the 
 Princess said to her brother, " It is too 
 costly." 
 
 The King, seeing how splendid the gift 
 was, frowned a little, and then said : 
 
 " He must be a man of very great wealth. 
 They are rich in England. I am sorry the 
 gift is so great, but we cannot refuse it 
 without wounding his honour." 
 
 So the Princess set the ruby necklace with 
 her other jewels, and thought for a day or 
 two that Lord Harry was no wiser than 
 other men, and then forgot him. 
 
 Now Lord Harry Culverhouse, on leaving 
 the King's presence, had mounted his horse, 
 which was a fine charger and splendidly 
 equipped, and ridden alone out of Strelsau ; 
 for he had dismissed all his servants and 
 despatched them with suitable gratuities to 
 their own country. He rode through the 
 afternoon, and in the evening he reached a 
 village fifteen miles away ; here he stopped 
 at a cottage, cfnd an old man came out and 
 escorted him in. A bundle lay on the table 
 in the little parlour of the cottage. 
 
 " Here are the clothes, my lord," said the 
 old man, laying his hand on the bundle. 
 
 " And here are mine," answered Lord 
 
82 The Heart of Princess Osra, 
 
 Harry. " And the horse stands ready for 
 you." With this he began to pull off the 
 fine clothes in which he had had audience 
 of the King, and he opened the bundle and 
 put on the old and plain suit which it con- 
 tained. Then he held out his hand to the 
 old man, saying, " Give me the five crowns, 
 Solomon, and our bargain is complete." 
 
 Then Solomon the Jew gave him five 
 crowns and bade him farewell, and he placed 
 the crowns in his purse and walked out of 
 the cottage, possessing nothing in the world 
 saving his old clothes, five crowns, and the 
 golden pin that had fastened the ruddy hair 
 of Princess Osra. For everything else that 
 he had possessed, his lands and houses in 
 England, his horses and carriages, his money, 
 his clothes, and all that was his, he had 
 bartered with Solomon the Jew, in order that 
 he might buy the ruby necklace which he 
 had given to Princess Osra. Such was the 
 strange madness wrought in him by her face. 
 
 It was now late evening, and he walked 
 to and fro all night. In the morning he 
 went to the shop of a barber and, in return 
 for one of his crowns, the barber cropped 
 his long curls short and shaved off his 
 moustaches, and gave him a dye with which 
 he stained his complexion to a darker tint ; 
 
The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse* 83 
 
 and he made his face dirty, and soiled his 
 hands and roughened the skin of them by 
 chafing them on some flints which lay by 
 the roadside. Then, changing a second 
 crown, he bought a loaf of bread, and set 
 off to trudge to Strelsau, for in Strelsau was 
 Osra, and he would not be anywhere else 
 in the world. And when he had arrived 
 there, he went to a sergeant of the King's 
 Guard, and prevailed on him by a present 
 of three crowns to enlist him as a trooper, 
 and this the sergeant, having found that 
 Lord Harry could ride and knew how to 
 use his sword, agreed to do. Thus Lord 
 Harry became a trooper in the Guard of 
 King Rudolf, having for all his possessions, 
 save what the King's stores afforded him, 
 a few pence and the golden pin that had 
 fastened the hair of Princess Osra. But 
 nobody knew him, except Solomon the Jew, 
 and he, having made a good profit, held his 
 peace, both then and afterwards. 
 
 Many a day Lord Harry mounted guard 
 at the palace, and often he saw the King, 
 with the Queen, ride out and back ; but 
 they did not notice the face of the trooper. 
 Sometimes he saw the Princess also, but 
 she did not look at him, although he could 
 not restrain himself from looking at her; 
 
84 The Heart of Princess Osra, 
 
 but since every man looked at her she had 
 grown accustomed to being gazed at and 
 took no heed of it. But once she wore the 
 ruby necklace, and the breath of the trooper 
 went quick and eager when he saw it on 
 her neck ; and a sudden flush of colour 
 spread over all his face, so that the Princess, 
 chancing to glance at him in passing, and 
 seeing the colour beneath and through the 
 dye that stained him, was greatly astonished, 
 and she reined in her horse for an instant 
 and looked very intently at him ; yet she 
 rode on again in silence. 
 
 That evening there came to the quarters 
 of the King's Guard a waiting-woman, who 
 asked to see the trooper who had mounted 
 guard at the west gate of the palace that 
 day ; and when he came the woman held 
 out to him a box of red morocco leather, 
 saying, " It is for you." 
 
 But he answered, " It is not for me," and, 
 turning away, left her. And this happened 
 on three evenings. Then, on the fourth 
 day, it was again his turn to mount guard 
 at the palace ; and when he had sat there 
 on his horse for an hour, the Princess Osra 
 rode out from under the portico ; she rode 
 alone and the ruby necklace was on her 
 neck : and she said : 
 
The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse* 85 
 
 " I am going to ride outside the city by 
 the river bank. Let a trooper follow me 
 some way behind." And she signed with 
 her hand to Lord Harry, and he rode after 
 her through the streets, and out of the 
 Western Gate ; and they turned along the 
 bank of the river. When they had gone 
 three or four miles from the city, Osra 
 halted, and beckoned to Lord Harry to 
 approach her ; and he came. But when she 
 was about to speak to him and tell him that 
 she knew him, a sudden new madness came 
 on him ; he seized her bridle, and dug his 
 spurs deep into his horse's flanks, and the 
 horse bounded forward at a gallop. In 
 alarm the Princess cried out, but he did not 
 heed her. Along the bank they galloped : 
 and when they met any one, which happened 
 seldom (for the place was remote, and it was 
 now evening), he bade her cover her face, 
 and she obeyed, twisting her lace handker- 
 chief about her face. Thus they rode till 
 they came at nightfall to a bluff of rock high 
 above the stream. Here Lord Harry sud- 
 denly checked the horses, flung himself from 
 his saddle, and bade the Princess dismount. 
 She obeyed, and stood facing him, pale 
 with fear and apprehension, but wearing a 
 proud and scornful air. And he cried : 
 
86 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 " Is it not well you should die ? For you 
 live but to madden men and drive them to 
 sin and folly." 
 
 " Nay," said she, "to men of good heart 
 beauty leads to goodness. From yourself 
 come the sin and folly, my lord ; " and she 
 laid hold of the ruby necklace and broke 
 the clasp of it, and flung it on the ground 
 before him. He took no heed of it, but 
 seized her hand, and drew her to the edge 
 of the bluff, saying : 
 
 " The world will be safer if I fling you 
 down." 
 
 Then she looked in his face, and a sudden 
 pity entered into her heart, and she said 
 very gently : 
 
 " Sit down, my lord, and let me put my 
 hands on your brow, for I think you are in 
 a fever." 
 
 He sat down, all trembling and shaking 
 like a man with ague, and she stripped off 
 her gauntlets, and took his forehead be- 
 tween her hands ; and he lay there quiet 
 with his head between her hands. Pres- 
 ently his eyes closed, and he slept. But 
 Osra did not know what to do, for darkness 
 had fallen, and she dared not leave him 
 alone there by the river. So she sat where 
 she was, and in an hour, the night being 
 
The Madness of Lord Harry Culvcrhousc* 87 
 
 fine and not cold, she grew weary ; her 
 hands fell away from his brow, and she 
 sank back on the green turf, pillowing her 
 head on a curved arm, and there she slept 
 with the mad lord by her and the ruby 
 necklace lying near them. 
 
 At midnight Lord Harry Culverhouse 
 awoke, and saw Princess Osra sleeping 
 peacefully, with a smile on her lips such as 
 decks a child's in sleep. He rose and stood 
 up on his feet, looking at her : and he heard 
 nothing but the sound of the horses cropping 
 the grass a little way off. Then he drew 
 near her and gazed long on her face : and 
 she opened her eyes and saw him ; she 
 smiled at him, and she said : 
 
 " Even here I am guarded by one of the 
 gentlemen who guard me in the palace." 
 And she closed her eyes again and turned 
 to sleep. 
 
 A shiver ran through him. He dug his 
 nails into the palms of his hands, and, turn- 
 ing, walked swiftly up and down on the 
 bluff by the side of the river, while Osra 
 slept. 
 
 Presently he fell on his knees beside 
 her, beginning to murmur in a rapid rush 
 of words : but he did not now curse her 
 beauty, but blessed God for it, and blessed 
 
88 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 Him also for the preservation of his own 
 honour. Thus he spent the night till day 
 was near : then he bent over Osra, and 
 looked once more on her : and he took up 
 the ruby necklace and laid it lightly about 
 her neck. Feeling the touch of it, cool 
 and wet from the dew, she again opened 
 her eyes, and, putting her knuckles in them, 
 she rubbed gently ; and she gasped a gentle 
 yawn, saying: " Heigho, I am sleepy!" 
 and sat up. And she said : 
 
 " Are you riot sleepy, my lord ?" 
 
 " I am on watch, madame," said Lord 
 Harry Culverhouse. 
 
 As the Princess sat up, the ruby necklace 
 fell from her neck into her lap. Seeing it, 
 she held it up to him, saying : 
 
 " Take it again, and go to your own home. 
 I am sure you gave too great a price for 
 it." 
 
 He smiled, for she did not know how 
 great the price was, and he asked : 
 
 " Must I, in my turn, give back the pin 
 that fastened your hair?" 
 
 " No, keep the pin it is worth nothing," 
 she smiled. " Is it safe for me to go to 
 sleep a little longer?" 
 
 " Who would harm you, madame ? Even 
 I have not harmed you." 
 
The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse. 89 
 
 " You ! " said she, with a little laugh. 
 "You would not harm me." 
 
 And she lay down again and closed her 
 eyes. 
 
 Then Lord Harry Culverhouse sat down 
 on the ground, resting his chin on his knees, 
 and clasping his hands about his shins, 
 and he cursed himself bitterly not now be- 
 cause he meditated any harm to her for his 
 hot fury was past, and he would have died 
 before a hair of her head should be hurt- 
 but because of the evil that his wild and 
 reckless madness had brought upon her. 
 For he knew that soon there would be a 
 pursuit, and that, if she and he were found 
 there, it would become known who he was, 
 and her fame would suffer injurious rumours 
 by reason of what he had done. Therefore 
 he made up his mind what he must next do, 
 and he abandoned all the dreams that had 
 led him into the foolish adventure on which 
 he had embarked, and put from him the 
 wickedness that had filled his heart when 
 first he carried her to the bluff over the river. 
 He rose on to his knees, and prayed that 
 if his deed were a sin for it seemed to 
 him to be a necessary thing then that 
 it might be forgiven, but that, in any case, 
 no hurt or harm should befall the Princess 
 
90 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 Osra by reason of anything that he had 
 done. Finally he commended his soul to 
 God. Then he took the ruby necklace in 
 his hand and, holding it, walked to the edge 
 of the bluff. 
 
 But at this instant the sound of the hoofs 
 of a horse struck on his ear ; the sound was 
 loud and close, and he had no more time 
 than to turn round before a horse was reined 
 in suddenly by him, and a man leapt from 
 it and ran at him and grappled with him. 
 And Lord Harry perceived that the man 
 was the King. For when Osra did not re- 
 turn, search parties had been sent out ; the 
 King himself headed one, and, having the 
 best horse and being urged on by love and 
 fear for his sister, he had outridden all the 
 rest and had chanced to come alone where 
 Osra and Lord Harry were ; and he gripped 
 Lord Harry furiously, cursing him for a 
 scoundrel and demanding what he had done 
 to the Princess. Then Lord Harry said : 
 
 " Do you not know me, sire ? I am Harry 
 Culverhouse." 
 
 Greatly astonished, the King loosed his 
 hold and fell back a pace, for he could not 
 understand what he heard, but yet knew the 
 voice of his friend. Then, looking down, he 
 beheld Osra sleeping peacefully as a child on 
 
The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse* 91 
 
 the ground, with her cloak spread under 
 her, that she might take no harm from the 
 damp. But Lord Harry caught him by the 
 arm, crying : 
 
 " Are there others coming after you ?" 
 "Aye," said the King, "many others. 
 The whole of the Guard are roused, and 
 seek her high and low in the city and out- 
 side. But how came you here, man ?" 
 
 Then Lord Harry told the King what he 
 had done, speaking very briefly and hastily, 
 but yet sparing nothing ; and when he told 
 him how he had carried off the Princess, 
 the King's hand flew to the hilt of his sword. 
 But Lord Harry said " Not yet," and con- 
 tinued to tell the King how Osra had pitied 
 him, how he had watched by her, and how 
 she had slept again, bidding him keep the 
 pin. Then glancing at Osra, he lowered 
 his voice and spoke very quick and urgently, 
 and the King held out his hand and shook 
 Lord Harry's hand, asking : " Is there no 
 other way?" But Lord Harry shook his 
 head ; then he kissed the King's hand ; next 
 he went and kissed Osra's hand very softly, 
 and looked for the last time on her face ; 
 and he drew the golden pin from his purse 
 and he put it gently and deftly among her 
 hair. Then taking the ruby necklace in his 
 
92 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 own hand and clenching it tight, he said to 
 King Rudolf: 
 
 " Sire, there are some in the city that 
 knew me before, but have not known me 
 since I have been in your Guard, because I 
 have altered my face. Take care that you 
 so alter it that they do not know me again." 
 
 The King's breath caught in his throat, 
 for he had loved Lord Harry Culverhouse, 
 and he asked again : 
 
 " Is there no other way ?" 
 
 "Hark!" said the other, "I hear the 
 horses of your Guard drawing near \- I hear 
 them to east and west and north ; and do 
 you not see shapes riding there to the south, 
 across the river? If I ride from here alive, 
 I shall be taken, and the truth must be 
 known. For my sake and hers, strike, sire." 
 
 The King took Lord Harry Culverhouse 
 by the arm and drew him to him, saying: 
 
 "Must it be so, Harry? And we have 
 lived as friends together ! " 
 
 " The sound of the hoofs is very near, 
 
 sire." 
 
 The King drew himself up to his height, 
 and he raised his hat from his head, and 
 bowed low to Lord Harry Culverhouse, and 
 he said : 
 
 " Now praise be to God for the restora- 
 
The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse* 93 
 
 tion of this gentleman to a sound mind, and 
 may Christ grant him mercy for the sake of 
 his honourable death !" 
 
 And he drew his sword from its sheath, 
 and came up to Lord Harry Culverhouse, 
 who stood on the edge of the bluff. The 
 King raised his sword and struck with all 
 his strength ; the head split under the blow, 
 and Lord Harry Culverhouse fell dead from 
 the bluff into the river, holding the ruby 
 necklace in his clenched hand. But the 
 King shivered, and a short sob burst from 
 him. 
 
 On this instant there arose an eager glad 
 cry, and twenty of the Guard rushed for- 
 ward, greeting the King and rejoiced to see 
 the Princess. Roused by the noise of their 
 coming, she sat up again, rubbing her eyes, 
 and cried : 
 
 " Where is he ? Where is Lord Harry ? " 
 
 And she looked round on the troopers, 
 and they gazed on her, much astonished at 
 hearing what she said. But Rudolf came to 
 her and took her hand, saying : 
 
 " Why, Osra, you have been dreaming ! 
 There is no Lord Harry here. Lord Harry 
 Culverhouse is far off in his own country. 
 Did that rascal of a trooper frighten you ? " 
 
 Her eyes grew wide in wonder ; but 
 
94 The Heart of Princess Osra 
 
 before she could speak he turned to the 
 Guard, saying : 
 
 " By heaven's pleasure I came in time to 
 prevent any harm, except the loss of a neck- 
 lace my sister wore. For as I rode up, I 
 saw a fellow stooping down by her and 
 fumbling with the clasp of her necklace. 
 He was one of your troop, and had ridden 
 out behind her, and he must have carried 
 her off by force : now he was endeavouring 
 to rob her, and as I rode up to him he 
 sprang away from her, holding her necklace 
 in his hand : but I leapt down from my 
 horse and ran at him, and he retreated in 
 fear. Then I drew my sword, and drove 
 him back to the edge of the bluff : and then 
 I split his skull, and he fell into the river, 
 still holding the necklace. But, thanks to 
 God, the Princess is not hurt. Let search 
 be made for the fellow's body, for perhaps 
 the necklace will be still in his hand." 
 
 But one cried, " How came they here ? " 
 
 " Ah, sister," said the King, fixing his 
 eyes on Osra, " how came you here?" 
 
 Reading in the King's eyes the answer 
 that he would have, she said : 
 
 "The trooper compelled me to come 
 hither with him, and he threatened to kill 
 me if I would not give him my necklace. 
 
The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhousc* 95 
 
 But I refused : then he drew a knife and 
 menaced me with it, and I fell into a swoon, 
 and knew no more until I awoke and found 
 you here ; and now I see that my necklace 
 is gone." 
 
 " Bring her horse," the King commanded, 
 "and ride in front and behind. We will 
 return to the city at the best speed we 
 may." 
 
 Then he mounted the Princess on her 
 horse, and rode by her side, supporting her 
 with his arm : and the troopers were some 
 way off in front and behind. But the 
 Princess felt the pin again in her hair, and 
 putting up her hand she pulled it out, and 
 she said : 
 
 " He has given me back my pin." 
 
 11 Of whom do you speak ? " asked the 
 King. 
 
 " Of Lord Harry Culverhouse. Is he 
 indeed dead, Rudolf?" 
 
 " Are you indeed still dreaming ? " an- 
 swered the King with a laugh. "What 
 had that fellow to do with Harry Culver- 
 house ? " 
 
 " But the pin ?" she cried. 
 
 " My wife set it in your hair, before you 
 started, for she wished to replace the one 
 you gave to Lord Harry." 
 
96 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 " She did not touch my hair to-day ! " 
 cried the Princess. 
 
 " Aye, but she did," said he. 
 
 The Princess suddenly fell to sobbing ; 
 and she said : 
 
 " Tell me the truth, tell me the truth. 
 Surely it was in truth Lord Harry Culver- 
 house?" 
 
 Then Rudolf drew very close to her, and 
 said softly : 
 
 " Sweet sister, the noble gentleman whom 
 we knew, he whom I loved, and who loved 
 you in chivalrous deference, went from us 
 two months ago. Be not troubled about 
 him, for now all is well with him. But 
 there was an unhappy man with you, who 
 was not our Harry Culverhouse, and who 
 had murderous and mad thoughts in his 
 heart. Yet at the end he also died as 
 readily and as nobly as our dear friend 
 himself would have died for your sake. I 
 pray you ask no more of him, but be con- 
 tented to know that though he died by the 
 sword yet he died in peace and willingly. 
 But of our dear friend, as we knew him, 
 think as much as you will, for the love of an 
 honest gentleman is a good thing to think 
 of." 
 
 The Princess Osra, hearing this, laid her 
 
The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse. 97 
 
 hand in her brother's hand, and for a long 
 while she did not speak. Then she said : 
 
 " But our friend will not come again, 
 Rudolf ? " 
 
 " No, you will never see our friend again," 
 answered the King. 
 
 " Then when you see him for I think 
 you will see him once again lay this pin in 
 his hand, and bid him take and keep it for 
 the sake of the love I bear him : perhaps 
 he will hear you." 
 
 " It may be, I cannot tell," said the King. 
 
 " And if he has the necklace," said she, 
 " pray him to give that to you, and sell it, 
 Rudolf, and give the value of it in gifts to 
 the poor. Yes, to all that are unhappy and 
 afflicted, even as the poor man who was 
 with me to-night." 
 
 " So be it, Osra," said the King, and he 
 kissed her. But she burst again suddenly 
 into passionate weeping, calling God to 
 witness that her face was a curse to her and 
 a curse to her friends, and praying the King 
 to suffer her to take the veil in a convent, 
 that she might trouble honest men no more. 
 Thus he brought her in a sad plight to the 
 palace, and gave her into the arms of his 
 wife, still sobbing bitterly. And he himself 
 took the pin, and when the body of the 
 
98 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 mad trooper was found, with his own hand 
 he covered the face, and put the pin in the 
 hand from which he took the ruby necklace : 
 and he sold the necklace, and used the pro- 
 ceeds of it as his sister had desired. 
 
 Thus the madness of Lord Harry Culver- 
 house, which was bred in him by the beauty 
 of the Princess Osra, worked its way with 
 him, and brought him first into peril of great 
 villainy, and at last to death. And his name 
 passed no more on the lips of any in Strel- 
 sau, nor between King Rudolf and his sister, 
 while the story that the King had told to 
 the troopers was believed by all, and none 
 save the King knew what Lord Harry 
 Culverhouse had done in his madness. But 
 Osra mourned for him, and for a long while 
 she would not go abroad, nor receive any 
 of the princes or nobles who came to the 
 Court, but lay still sick and full of grief, 
 bewailing the harm that she had wrought. 
 Yet, as time passed, she grew again happy, 
 for she was young, and the world was sweet 
 to her : and then, as King Rudolf had 
 bidden her, she remembered Lord Harry 
 Culverhouse as he had been before his mad- 
 ness came upon him. Yet still more did 
 she remember how, even in his madness, 
 he had done her no harm, but had watched 
 
The Madness of Lord Harry Culverhouse*. 99 
 
 beside her through the night, and had, as 
 morning dawned, entreated death at the 
 hands of the King, preferring to die rather 
 than that the talk of a single idle tongue 
 should fall foully on her name. Therefore 
 she mourned for him with secret tears. 
 
 But he, although no monument marked his 
 grave, and although men spoke only of the 
 mad trooper who had robbed the Princess, 
 yet slept soundly and at peace : and his 
 right hand lay clenched upon his heart, and 
 in it the golden pin that had fastened the 
 ruddy hair of Princess Osra. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman. 
 
 " I AM tired of men," cried Princess Osra, 
 " and of suitors, and of princes. I will go 
 to Zenda and ride in the forest all alone." 
 
 " You will meet men even there," said the 
 King. 
 
 u How do you know that, sire?" she 
 asked with a smile. 
 
 " At least I have found it impossible to 
 avoid meeting women anywhere." 
 
 " I do not think it is the same thing," 
 observed Osra, smiling again. 
 
 The King said no more, but let her go 
 her own way ; and to Zenda she went, and 
 rode in the forest all alone, meeting for 
 many days no man at all, though, perhaps, 
 she thought a little of those whom she had 
 met, and (who can tell?) now and then of 
 one whom she should some day meet. 
 For the mind loves to entertain itself with 
 such idle musings, and they are hardly 
 conscious till a sudden smile or a beat of 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman* 101 
 
 the heart betrays them to the abashed 
 thinker. Just in this manner a flush had 
 chanced to rise to Osra's cheek one day 
 as she rode in a reverie, being above ten 
 miles from the Castle and on the very edge 
 of the kingdom's frontier, which skirts 
 the extremity of the forest on the east. 
 Breaking off her thoughts, half ashamed of 
 them, she looked up and saw a very fine and 
 powerful horse tethered to a tree a few 
 yards away, saddled and bridled. Then she 
 said to herself with a sigh, " Alas, here is a 
 man as my brother said !" And she shook 
 her head very sorrowfully. 
 
 The next instant she saw, as she had fore- 
 boded, a man approaching her ; indeed, the 
 matter was as bad as could be, for he was 
 young and handsome, finely dressed, car- 
 rying a good sword by his side and a brace 
 of pistols mounted in silver in his belt. 
 He held a feathered hat in his hand, and, 
 advancing with a deep bow, knelt on one 
 knee by the Princess's horse, saying : 
 
 " Madame, if you will, you can do me 
 a great service." 
 
 " If it be in my power, sir," she answered 
 for since fate compelled her to meet a 
 man, she would not show him rudeness 
 " I am at your service." 
 
102 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 11 You see my horse there, madame ? He 
 is as dear as my life to me ; and I fear I 
 shall lose him, unless I have your aid," 
 and he rose and stood looking at the Prin- 
 cess. 
 
 " Why, what threatens him ? " she asked. 
 
 " I will tell you, madame. I come from 
 across the frontier, from a secluded village 
 nearly ten miles from here. There I live 
 with my mother, whom I support. There 
 is a rich fellow there, a farmer, Otho by 
 name, who is, saving your presence, a 
 plaguey boastful fellow. And he is to-day 
 to be betrothed." 
 
 "Do you also love the lady?" asked 
 Osra, thinking she had come at the cause 
 of his trouble. 
 
 14 Not I, madame. But this Otho boasted 
 and vaunted so intolerably of her beauty, 
 and of his own prowess and attraction, that 
 last night I, led away by emulation (nay, I 
 am ashamed to say that I had also drunk a 
 flask of wine) wagered with him my horse 
 against a thousand crowns though the 
 horse is worth two thousand that I would 
 bring with me to the feast a girl handsomer 
 than his Lotta. But now it is eleven o'clock, 
 and the feast is at one o'clock, and I have 
 no girl to show, ugly or handsome. And if 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman, 103 
 
 I lose my horse I must hang myself, for I 
 cannot live without him." 
 
 " You cannot live without your horse ? " 
 she asked in surprise. 
 
 *' At least, madame," he answered in some 
 confusion, " his loss would go near to break- 
 ing my heart." 
 
 " But is this Lotta so handsome that you 
 can find none to surpass her ? " 
 
 " She is, indeed, wonderfully handsome. 
 In the village they call her the most beauti- 
 ful girl in the world." 
 
 " Then, sir, it seems to me that your 
 wager was most improvident and rash. For 
 you are certain to lose it." 
 
 " Alas, yes ! " he answered in great dis- 
 tress. " I am certain to lose ; for there are, 
 I think, only two ladies in the world who 
 could save me, and one would not." 
 
 " Two ladies ? Who are they ? " 
 
 " Madame," said he, " before you came in 
 sight, I sat desolate and despairing on the 
 ground, and what I said to myself was, * If 
 what men say is true, there is only one lady 
 who could save me. But how shall I, poor 
 Christian Hantz, come at the Princess Osra ? 
 And would she put on a country girl's 
 dress and go to the feast with me ? Alas, 
 it is impossible ! And there is no other 
 
104 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 lady in the world beautiful enough.' But 
 then 
 
 " Well, sir, what then ? " asked Osra, play- 
 ing with her whip and smothering a smile. 
 
 " Then, madame," said Christian, " I 
 looked up and I saw you, and I cried, ' A 
 fig for the Princess Osra ! For here is a 
 lady more beautiful than all they tell of 
 Princess Osra ; I will throw myself at her 
 feet and pray her in pity to help me.' ' 
 
 Still Osra hid her smile, and so busy was 
 she with this task that she did not perceive 
 that Christian also hid a smile ; but she 
 thought that he did not know her, whereas 
 he had seen her several times, and had this 
 day tracked her in the forest, knowing that 
 she was accustomed to ride there. 
 
 " But where," she asked, " would the lady 
 who went with you get the dress you speak 
 of?" 
 
 "At my mother's cottage, madame, where 
 my mother would wait on her." 
 
 " And when could she be back at this 
 spot ? " 
 
 " By five in the afternoon, madame. I 
 would myself escort her." 
 
 " And why, sir, should she rescue you 
 from the straits into which your folly has 
 led you ? " 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman* 105 
 
 " Alas, madame, for no reason, unless, by 
 a divine miracle, she should prove as kind 
 as she is beautiful." 
 
 . " You have a rash tongue, sir, in other 
 matters than the making of wagers." And 
 she looked at him. For she was very sorely 
 tempted to do what he prayed of her ; and 
 she said : 
 
 " Has the Princess Osra ever ridden 
 through your village ? " 
 
 " Never, madame." 
 
 " But some there may know her face, and 
 then they will think nothing of mine." 
 
 " It is unlikely that any one there should 
 have seen even a picture of her, for they are 
 quiet folk and do not go abroad." 
 
 " Besides, in a peasant's dress " began 
 Osra meditatively. But she stopped, blush- 
 ing and laughing. And Christian caught 
 her hand and kissed it, crying : 
 
 " For heaven's sake, come, madame ! " 
 
 He was so earnest, and his earnestness 
 so became his bronzed face and bright eyes, 
 that Osra could not deny him, but she swore 
 him to secrecy, and agreed to ride with him, 
 blaming herself all the while very greatly, 
 and blaming yet more that Fate which 
 would not allow her to be quit of the 
 troublesome race of men even in the recesses 
 of the forest of Zenda. 
 
io6 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 Turning their horses, therefore, towards 
 the frontier, they set them at a smart canter, 
 for there was little time to lose if they were 
 to come to the feast by one o'clock ; and 
 shortly before noon, having struck a bye*- 
 path through the trees, they came on a 
 small cottage that stood apart and by it- 
 self ; and a hill rose from it. 
 
 "On the other side of the hill lies the 
 village, madame," said Christian, jumping 
 from his horse. " And this is my cottage. 
 Hallo, there, mother !" 
 
 An old woman came out, neatly and 
 cleanly clad. Christian ran up to her, spoke 
 to her briefly, and brought her to Osra. 
 The worthy dame, bewildered by the appear- 
 ance and stately air of the Princess, did 
 nothing but curtsey and murmur incoherent 
 thanks, but Osra, now caught by the ex- 
 citement of the enterprise, clapped her 
 hands, crying : 
 
 " Quick, quick, or we shall be too late !" 
 
 So Christian lifted her down and led 
 away the horses to a shed behind the cot- 
 tage. But the old woman led Osra in, and 
 took her to the bedroom, where lay a 
 dress such as the peasant girls wore. Osra 
 took up the skirt, and looked at it curi- 
 ously. 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman* 107 
 
 " Must I indeed wear this ? " she asked. 
 " And I am somewhat tall, mother ! " 
 
 The old woman said that nothing would 
 serve save the dress, and Osra sighed. Yet 
 as there was no help for it, she suffered the 
 old woman to help her in getting it on. 
 
 So the door was shut, and Christian sat 
 smiling in the sun outside, well pleased at 
 the success of his audacious scheme, and 
 feeling Otho's crowns already in his pocket. 
 
 Still less did he doubt of this most desir- 
 able result when the door of the cottage 
 again opened and Osra came out, blushing, 
 and yet biting her lips to keep back her 
 laughter. Her hair was plaited in two long 
 plaits ; she wore a white bodice, and over it 
 a jacket of black velvet, and a red skirt hung 
 full from her waist to but a very little below 
 her knee ; then came hose of red also for it 
 was a holiday, and the best of all was worn 
 and stout square-toed shoes. Osra in her 
 heart loved all except the shoes, yet she de- 
 clared that she loathed all except the shoes. 
 And Christian, with eyes cast most demurely 
 on the ground, prayed her to forgive the 
 sad necessity, yet assured her that Lotta 
 would die of envy that very day. 
 
 11 Let us go then," said Osra. " For the 
 sooner we go, the sooner will it be done, 
 
io8 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 and I can get rid of these ridiculous clothes. 
 Heaven have mercy on me and grant that I 
 may meet none who know me ! " 
 
 They were mounting the hill now, the old 
 woman standing at the cottage door and 
 watching. When they reached the top Osra 
 saw a small village nestling in the valley be- 
 low, and the sound of music struck on her 
 ear. At this a sudden fear seized her, and 
 putting out her hand she caught Christian 
 by the sleeve, saying : 
 
 "Will they know me?" 
 
 " Not they, madame," said he. But as he 
 spoke his eyes fell on a ring that the Princess 
 wore, a gem engraved with the Royal Arms. 
 "Not they, if you conceal that ring;" and 
 for a moment he looked in her face, and he 
 smiled. 
 
 Osra uttered a little cry, as she hastily 
 plucked the ring from her finger, and gave 
 it to him, saying : 
 
 " Keep it safe, and do not forget to give 
 it me again." 
 
 But she would not meet his glance, for 
 she began from now to suspect that he knew 
 who she was. 
 
 The sound of music came from a solid 
 square-built house that stood on the out- 
 skirts of the village, and coming nearer they 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman* 109 
 
 saw a long table spread in the shade near 
 the house, and a company of men and 
 women seated at it. The Princess was 
 somewhat comforted to find that the girls' 
 dresses were in all respects like her own, 
 though hers seemed newer and more hand- 
 some ; therefore she took courage, and put 
 her arm inside Christian's arm, saying : 
 
 " Since I have accepted the part, I will 
 play it. Come, sir, let us go and challenge 
 Lotta. Your horse is at stake ! " 
 
 " He is in no danger," said Christian, 
 " and I am worth a thousand crowns." And 
 his eyes most plainly added the reason which 
 led him to these comfortable conclusions. 
 
 Now at this moment Otho, having toasted 
 the company and accepted their good 
 wishes, was standing up before them all, 
 Lotta standing by him, her hand in his ; and 
 he vowed (as was but right) all manner of 
 love and devotion [to her, and declared that 
 she was the prettiest girl in the world ; in 
 truth she was very pretty, being, although 
 low of stature, most admirably formed, 
 having golden hair, the pinkest of cheeks 
 artd large blue eyes that followed a man 
 about in a most appealing and distracting 
 manner. So that Otho had good reason 
 to be content, and would have come to no 
 
no The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 harm, had it not been for that old extrav- 
 agance of lovers which will not allow this 
 world to hold more than one pretty girl 
 the truth being, of course, quite otherwise. 
 But, led on by this infatuation, Otho cried : 
 
 " I dare any man to find so pretty a girl ! 
 As for Master Christian whose wager you 
 heard why, this evening his fine horse shall 
 feed in my stable ! " 
 
 " Softly, friend Otho, softly," came to the 
 ears of the feasters from behind the trees. 
 " Mistress Lotta is very pretty, but I have 
 here a girl whom some think handsome. 
 Well, this worthy company shall judge." 
 And Christian came from the shelter of the 
 trees leading Osra by the hand, and he set 
 her opposite to Lotta, where all could see 
 her. And all looked and beheld her with 
 amazement. But none spoke. So they 
 rested for a long while, Christian smiling 
 and Osra's eyes being set on Lotta, while 
 Otho did nothing but gaze at Osra. 
 
 Presently a low murmur began to run 
 along the table. " Who is she?" asked 
 some one, but none could answer. " Who 
 is she ?" called an old man to Christian, but 
 he answered, " What's that to you ? Is she 
 not fairer?" And when the others asked 
 whence she came, he made the same answer. 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman. 1 1 1 
 
 But one young fellow leant from his place 
 and plucked Christian's sleeve, saying, " Is 
 she promised to you ? " and at this Chris- 
 tian frowned, answering, " At least she is 
 not for you," while Osra, overhearing, 
 blushed mightily. Then Otho, still saying 
 nothing, suddenly lugged out a great purse 
 of money, and flung it violently into the 
 middle of the table with a curse, and Chris- 
 tian with a mocking lift of his hat, came for- 
 ward, and, taking it, tossed it up and down 
 in his hand, crying, " Is it fair weight, neigh- 
 bour Otho?" Otho did not heed him, but 
 turned suddenly to Lotta and put his arm 
 round her waist, saying : 
 
 " Aye, it is true. The devil must have 
 sent her, but it is true. Yet you are pretty 
 too, my lass." For Lotta, after looking at 
 all the company and at Osra, had been so 
 sorely wounded in her pride and robbed of 
 her triumph, that, poor child, she had begun 
 to weep, hiding her face in her hands, and 
 Otho was trying to comfort her, though, 
 lover as he was, he could not for the life of 
 him declare that she was more beautiful than 
 the girl whom Christian had brought. And 
 they all moved from their places and came 
 to stand round Osra. But she, after a mo- 
 ment, caught from Christian the bag that he 
 
ii2 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 tossed so exultantly, crying to him : " I'll 
 be your debtor for it ;" and bursting through 
 the ring, she ran round the table and came 
 to Lotta, and, pulling the girl's hands down 
 from her face, she thrust the bag into her 
 hands, and began to talk to her, whispering 
 low, and looking into her frightened eyes 
 with shining eyes. 
 
 " Ah, my dear," said Osra, " see, he still 
 loves you, dear. Ah, why did I come ? But 
 I am going away, yes, now, and I shall never 
 come here again. I do harm wherever I go ! 
 Yes, but you'll be the prettiest girl in the 
 village always ! Otho, Otho, kiss her, Otho ! 
 Tell her that you love her, Otho. Don't 
 stand there dumb. Oh, how stupid men 
 are ! Don't you see what she wants ? Yes, 
 do it again. I never saw anybody so pretty, 
 Otho. Yes, yes, dear, keep the bag. It's 
 from me ; you must keep it, and buy pretty 
 clothes and be prettier than ever, for Otho's 
 sake, because he loves you." 
 
 By the time the Princess Osra had ended 
 her consolations, behold she was very nearly 
 crying herself ! But Lotta put her arms 
 round the Princess's neck and kissed her, 
 because she said that Otho still loved her ; 
 and in her gratitude for this, she forgot 
 thanks for the bag of crowns, or even to 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman* 113 
 
 wonder who this girl was that could give 
 away a thousand crowns. But in this the 
 rest of the company were not like her, and 
 an eager murmuring marked the excitement 
 with which they watched the scene ; and 
 they cried to Christian : 
 
 " Look after your crowns ; " and thought 
 him mad when he shook his head jauntily, 
 answering : 
 
 " Let Otho do what he will with them." 
 
 Then, their interest growing more and 
 more intense, they crowded round the 
 Princess, scanning her very closely ; and she 
 was in great fear that she would be known, 
 and also in some embarrassment from the 
 ardent glances and free comments of the 
 simple countrymen, who were accustomed 
 to say what they thought with more plain- 
 ness than were the gentlemen of the Court. 
 So that at length, fairly alarmed, she gave 
 Lotta a last hasty kiss, and made her way 
 to Christian, crying: " Take me away." 
 
 " Aye, madame," said he, and he put her 
 arm in his and turned away. But all the 
 company followed him, staring and gossip- 
 ing and crowding, so that Lotta and Otho 
 were left alone at the feast which Otho had 
 provided, with nothing to console them but 
 one another's love and the happily recovered 
 
ii4 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 thousand crowns. And the crowd pressed 
 hard on Osra and Christian, being full of 
 eagerness to see where the girl went and 
 what became of her. Thus they reached 
 the top of the hill and came in sight of 
 Christian's cottage. But now Christian sud- 
 denly loosed Osra's arm and, turning round, 
 faced the throng of inquisitive folk ; with 
 either hand he drew a silver-mounted pistol 
 from his belt ; and when he had cocked 
 the pair, he pointed them at his friends and 
 neighbours, saying in a quiet and pleasant 
 voice : " I shall count to twenty. Any one 
 who means to be within range when I come 
 to twenty had best now order his coffin." 
 
 At this a great grumbling arose among 
 them ; yet they knew Christian, and did 
 not wait till he had counted, but one and 
 all turned tail and ran down the hill much 
 quicker than they had come up. But one 
 or two fellows, resentful and malicious be- 
 cause of their disappointment, as soon as 
 they found themselves out of range, turned 
 round and shouted : 
 
 " Aye, he is ready with his pistol, is 
 Christian. We know him. Highwayman! 
 Whom did you last rob ? " And Christian 
 went red as the frock that Osra wore. But 
 she turned questioning eyes on him. 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman* 115 
 
 "Yes," said he sullenly. "They say 
 highwayman ; it is true. I am a robber. 
 That is why I said, madame, that I could 
 not live without my horse." 
 
 "Come," said Osra, "let us go to the 
 cottage." 
 
 So they returned together to the cottage, 
 saying nothing. There Osra put on her 
 own clothes again, and having bidden fare- 
 well to the old woman who asked no 
 questions of her, mounted her horse. Then 
 Christian said : 
 
 "Shall I ride with you, madame?" 
 
 She bowed her head in assent. 
 
 Till they entered the forest the Princess 
 did not speak. But then she sighed, 
 saying : 
 
 " I am sorry that I went with you. For 
 if you had lost your horse maybe you 
 would have ceased from your way of life. 
 It is better to lose a horse than to be 
 hanged." 
 
 " Madame," said he, " you speak pru- 
 dently. Yet I had rather be hanged than 
 lose him." 
 
 " I am in your debt a thousand crowns," 
 said she, and, stopping her horse, she wrote 
 for him an order for a thousand crowns, and 
 she signed it with her own name, Osra, and 
 
n6 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 gave it to him. He received it bowing very 
 low. 
 
 " You knew me all the time ? " she asked. 
 
 " Yes, madame," said he. They had now 
 come to where he had first met her. 
 
 " Why do you live by robbery?" she 
 asked. 
 
 " For the love of the same thing that 
 made you come with me to-day, madame." 
 
 " But could you not find what you love 
 in the King's service ? " 
 
 " I do not like service, madame," said 
 Christian. " I love to be free." 
 
 She paused for a moment, and then said 
 in a lower tone : 
 
 " Could you not endure my service, sir ? " 
 
 "In that I shall now live and die, 
 madame," said he, and she felt his eyes 
 upon her. 
 
 Again in silence they rode on ; it was 
 evening now, and had grown dark, and 
 presently the [lantern in the tower of the 
 keep of Zenda became visible. Then Osra 
 drew rein. 
 
 " For my sake," said she, " rob no more." 
 
 " What you command, madame, is my 
 law. And here is your ring." 
 
 " Keep the ring," she said. " But when 
 I can serve you, you shall send it back 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman, 117 
 
 to me, and ask what you will in return for 
 it" 
 
 " There is nothing," said he, very low, 
 and looking away from her, " that I would 
 take in exchange for it." 
 
 " A foolish man or only a foolish speech ? " 
 she asked as lightly as she could, with one 
 fleeting glance at his face. 
 
 " A foolish man, madame, it may be, but 
 a true speech," and he bent bareheaded in 
 his saddle and raised her hand to his lips. 
 And, still bareheaded, he turned away and 
 rode back at a canter into the forest. But 
 the Princess Osra rode on to the Castle, won- 
 dering greatly at what she had done that day. 
 
 Yet she could not be very sorry that she 
 had saved his horse for him, and she trusted 
 that Otho and Lotta would be happy, and 
 she thought that one man was, after all, as 
 good flesh and blood as another, and then 
 that she was a Princess and he a robber, 
 and that his eyes had been over bold. ^ Yet 
 there was deference in them also. 
 
 " It is a great pity that he should be a 
 robber," sighed the Princess, as she reached 
 the Castle. 
 
 The Princess Osra's carriage was within 
 two miles of Strelsau when she put her head 
 
n8 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 out of the window and asked the officer who 
 rode by the wheel why such a throng of 
 people hastened to the city. 
 
 "It is nothing, madame," answered he, 
 saluting. " It is only that two rogues are 
 to be hanged to-day." 
 
 " What pleasure is there in seeing men 
 hanged ? " asked Osra scornfully. " I wish 
 I had not come to-day." And she drew her 
 head back in disgust. Then she called : 
 " Go slowly, and do not let me get into the 
 middle of the wild beasts who go to gloat 
 over men being hanged." 
 
 So the horses were checked to a walk, and 
 thus the carriage proceeded slowly towards 
 Strelsau.. But presently the Princess put 
 her head out of the window again and 
 asked : 
 
 " Who are to be hanged to-day, sir?" 
 
 " The noted highwayman, Sigismund 
 Kohl, madame," said the officer. " He 
 robbed the Archbishop's coach in the forest 
 of Zenda ; but they pursued him over the 
 frontier and tracked him to the cottage of 
 the other rogue, who had a part in many 
 previous robberies, though not in this. The 
 second fellow hid Kohl, and tried to put off 
 the officers, but they caught them both, and 
 both are to be hanged." 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman* 119 
 
 " It seems hard," said Osra, " to hang the 
 one who only sheltered his friend. He could 
 do no less." 
 
 " Nay, madame, he richly deserves it. 
 Besides his previous robberies, he is gravely 
 suspected of a most foul murder. For a few 
 weeks ago he was in company with a girl, 
 and she seemed to have money and to spare, 
 and was mighty pretty too, they say. Now 
 he can give no account of what has become 
 of her ; but they have found all the clothes 
 she wore hidden away in his house, and he 
 says his mother bought the clothes. But 
 they are a girl's clothes, not an old woman's. 
 It looks black ; but luckily the other matter 
 is enough to hang him on. His mother's 
 clothes, in faith ! Would an old woman, 
 who died three weeks ago, have bought a 
 new red frock and smart red stockings for 
 herself ? " 
 
 " A red frock ? Red stockings ? And 
 the mother is dead ? Dead of what ?" 
 
 " Of a chill, madame, such as carries old 
 people off suddenly. Yes, it looks black, and 
 so the people think, for when the pair were 
 brought into the city, though the rascals 
 cheered Kohl who had only robbed the 
 Archbishop, they pelted and came near to 
 killing Christian Hantz." 
 
120 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 The Princess's face went pale, and she 
 sank back, murmuring " Christian Hantz!" 
 But in another moment she cried : 
 
 " At what hour is the hanging ? " 
 
 " At noon, madame ; that is, half an hour 
 from now." 
 
 Then the Princess cried in a loud urgent 
 tone : 
 
 "Faster, faster! Drive at top speed!" 
 The officers looked at her in wonder ; but 
 she cried : " A hundred crowns to the 
 coachman if he brings me to the place before 
 noon ! Quick, quick !" For she was all on 
 fire at the thought that Christian Hantz 
 was to be hanged, not for any new robbery 
 but because he had sheltered his friend. 
 And she knew how the red skirt and the 
 red stockings came in his house ; her 
 breath caught in her throat, as she thought 
 how he had suffered stoning and execration 
 rather than betray her secret. And she 
 cried out to herself as she was carried along, 
 " But the ring ! Why did he not send the 
 ring?" 
 
 By now they were at the gates of the city, 
 and now within them. The officer and the 
 two men who were with him rode forward 
 to clear the road for the Princess. Thus 
 they made their way on, until they came to 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman. 121 
 
 the street which leads from the West Gate 
 to the Cathedral, and could see the gibbet 
 that had been raised before the prison, 
 between the Cathedral and the Palace. But 
 here the whole street was blocked with 
 people, and the officer could not get the 
 carriage through, for the folk were thick 
 as swarming bees all across the roadway, 
 and even if they would have moved, they 
 could not ; so the carriage came to a dead 
 stand, while the officer said to Princess 
 Osra: 
 
 " Madame, it is useless, we cannot get 
 through them." Osra sprang from the car- 
 riage, and she said : 
 
 " You have two men with you, sir. For 
 God's sake, gentlemen, bring me through 
 to the foot of the scaffold. I care not if it 
 costs me my life." 
 
 " Nor we, madame, though it costs us 
 ours, since it is your pleasure," they said, as 
 every man in the city would have said for 
 the Princess Osra. And the two men went 
 ahead, while Osra followed with the officer ; 
 and pushing and struggling, and dodging in 
 and out, aye, and when need was, hitting, 
 and buffeting, and kicking, the three took 
 her through into the square of the Cathedral. 
 And the clock in the great tower struck noon. 
 
122 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 As the bell boomed a cry went up from 
 the thronged square ; the body of a man 
 shot from the scaffold to the top of the 
 gibbet and hung there. The people cried 
 aloud, some cheering, some also groaning 
 and weeping. 
 
 " Who is it, who is it ?" asked the Princess. 
 
 " It is Sigismund Kohl, madame," said 
 the officer. 
 
 " Then on, on, on ! " she commanded, 
 and again they struggled forward. Now a 
 louder and fiercer cry rang out as a man was 
 brought forward on the scaffold, in his shirt 
 and breeches. A priest was with him, 
 holding a crucifix before his eyes. King 
 Rudolf, who sat at a window of his palace, 
 asked why they delayed to string the 
 rascal up ; and one of his gentlemen an- 
 swered : 
 
 " Sire, the priest begged a few minutes' 
 delay. For the obstinate rogue will not 
 confess to the murder of the girl, and 
 therefore cannot receive absolution, and the 
 priest is loth to have him hanged without 
 it." 
 
 " He shall be hanged without it, unless 
 his conscience act quickly," said the King. 
 But a moment later, he asked : 
 
 " What is the tumult in the corner of the 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman* 123 
 
 square ? There is a fight there. Let it be 
 seen to." 
 
 Indeed there was a fight ; for the three 
 with Osra were bent on getting through, 
 and the crowd would not let them through ; 
 and they struck at the crowd, and the 
 crowd at them. But suddenly some one, 
 peering past the Guards, exclaimed : " The 
 Princess Osra, the Princess ! " Then the 
 blows ceased, and the crowd began slowly 
 to give back, making way for Osra. And 
 she walked between walls of people, yet did 
 not seem to see or to take heed of any of 
 them ; her eyes were glued to the man on 
 the scaffold. For even now the priest, who 
 had held the crucifix, turned sorrowfully 
 away, and signed with his hand to the 
 hangman. 
 
 Again the people shouted fiercely for 
 Christian's death ; and he, stepping forward, 
 gave himself into the executioner's hands. 
 Those who were near him saw that there 
 was a smile on his lips, and, as the hangman 
 took hold of him, he kissed a little packet 
 which he held in his right hand. But the 
 people shrieked loudly: " Murderer, mur- 
 derer ! Where is the girl ? " At this, stung 
 beyond endurance, Christian cried, so loudly 
 that his voice rose above the clamour : 
 
124 The Heart of Princess Osra 
 
 " I am no murderer, I did not touch a hair 
 of her head." 
 
 " Then where is she, where is she ?" they 
 shouted. 
 
 " I do not know," said he ; and he added 
 in a low tone, kissing his little packet again : 
 " Wherever she is, God in his graciousness 
 send her joy." And he turned to the exe- 
 cutioner, saying, " Get on, man." But then 
 he looked as it were for the last time on the 
 living sea of faces round him, and suddenly, 
 out of all of them, he saw one. 
 
 What Christian saw the King saw also, 
 and he rose from his chair with an oath and 
 a laugh. 
 
 " This sister of mine is a wonderful 
 wench," said he. " Come, let us see why 
 she will not have this rascal hanged. Run, 
 some one, and tell them not to string him 
 up till I give the word." 
 
 The King walked out of the palace and 
 came into the square, the Guard parting the 
 people before him ; and Osra, seeing him 
 coming, stood now quite still, blushing and 
 smiling, although she was very ashamed and 
 panted sorely. 
 
 Then the King came and faced her, say- 
 ing nothing, but lifting his eyebrows and 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman* 125 
 
 smiling whimsically ; but at last he whis- 
 pered : 
 
 " What, was there a man in the forest, 
 Osra ? " 
 
 And she answered : " Do not ask me 
 that, sire, but ask Christian Hantz what is 
 in the packet which he kissed as the hang- 
 man took hold of him." 
 
 " He is not only a robber, but a murderer 
 also, though he will not own to it." 
 
 " No, he is no murderer," said she. 
 " Look in the packet." 
 
 " Then come and look with me," said the 
 King, and taking her hand he led her up 
 on to the scaffold in the sight of all the 
 people, who wondered and laughed ; for 
 they always laughed at the ways of the 
 Princess Osra. But she flew straight across 
 to Christian, who fell on one knee with the 
 rope round his neck. 
 
 "Give me the packet," she cried, and she 
 tore it open. And in it she found her 
 order for a thousand crowns and the gem 
 engraved with the Royal Arms. For an 
 instant she looked at Christian, and then 
 she said : 
 
 "You have not got money for the order ? 
 Yet my name is good for a thousand 
 crowns." 
 
126 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 " To me, madame, it was better than fifty 
 thousand." 
 
 " But," she broke out eagerly ; " you 
 should have sent the ring. I could have 
 saved you." 
 
 " But you would have kept it in return 
 for the service, madame." 
 
 "Aye, sir, that was the bargain," said 
 Osra, with a little low laugh. 
 
 " I knew it. And I preferred to die with 
 it rather than live without it." 
 
 "Another foolish speech !" 
 
 "Yes, for the man is foolish, madame." 
 
 " And they cry to you, ' Where is the 
 girl?' And you do not answer, but die 
 under a foul charge ! " 
 
 To this Christian Hantz made no answer 
 at all, unless it were one to murmur mourn- 
 fully : 
 
 " And, madame, they have taken from me 
 the red skirt and " 
 
 The Princess Osra suddenly turned from 
 him, and went to the King, who had stood 
 regarding her ; and she knelt down before 
 him, saying : 
 
 " Sire and dear brother, pardon this man. 
 He did but shelter his friend, and he will 
 rob no more." 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman* 127 
 
 " I might forgive him his robberies, if he 
 would take service in my army." 
 
 " Yes, in my regiment of Guards ! " she 
 cried. 
 
 " But how shall I forgive that foul mur- 
 der, of which he is certainly guilty ? For 
 where, sister, is the pretty girl, of whom no 
 traces can be found saving her dress, her 
 red skirt, and ? " 
 
 "Sire, these things I pray you, sire, let 
 your gentlemen stand back a little." 
 
 " Stand back, then, gentlemen," said the 
 King. 
 
 " These things, sire, were, by a strange 
 chance, in the little parcel that the poor 
 man kissed. Though why he kissed it, I 
 do not know." 
 
 The King took Osra's order for a thou- 
 sand crowns, and also the gem engraved 
 with the Royal Arms ; he looked at them 
 and at his sister. 
 
 " Therefore, sire," said she, " I ask life 
 and pardon for the most courteous gentle- 
 man in your dominions. Ft>r he prized mj 
 ring above his life and my secret above his 
 honour. Sire, such men should live and 
 not die." 
 
 The King turned to his officers, and said : 
 
 " Gentlemen, the Princess knows that 
 
128 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 the girl is alive and well and has no com- 
 plaint against this man. For he might not 
 in honour tell who or where she was. And, 
 for the rest, he did but shelter his friend, 
 and my sister is surety that he will rob no 
 more. May he live ?" 
 
 When they heard this, they all declared 
 that Christian should live, and they went 
 into the crowd and told the people that the 
 girl was found. Then the people suddenly 
 veered round and began to cheer Christian, 
 and some cried, " Who is the girl ? " and 
 laughed merrily, conceiving that it was a 
 love affair on which Christian had been 
 engaged ; and because he preferred to die 
 under an imputation of murder rather than 
 endanger his love's reputation, he became a 
 hero with them ; and when they heard he 
 was not to die, they dispersed in the utmost 
 good temper, cheering him and the King, 
 and above all the Princess Osra, whom 
 they loved. 
 
 But she went again to Christian, and bade 
 the hangman take the rope off his neck. 
 
 "Will you serve in my regiment of 
 Guards, sir?" she asked. "Or is service 
 still irksome to you ? " 
 
 " I will serve you. madame," said Chris- 
 tian. 
 
The Courtesy of Christian the Highwayman* 129 
 
 " And since you will need equipment, get 
 money for this order," and she gave him 
 again the order. 
 
 " I must needs obey you, madame, though 
 reluctantly." 
 
 " It is well, sir. I trust you will serve me 
 faithfully. I bid you farewell, sir," and she 
 bowed slightly, and turned as if to leave 
 him. And he said nothing, but stood look- 
 ing at her, so that presently she blushed, 
 saying : 
 
 " They will let you have those things now, 
 sir." 
 
 Christian bowed very low, and, raising 
 himself again, looked at her ring. 
 
 " Nay, I cannot do that," said Princess 
 Osra. " But you will see it now and then, 
 and, now and then, maybe, you can touch 
 it." And she put the ring on her finger and 
 held out her hand to him. He knelt and 
 kissed the ring and then her hand ; but he 
 looked very glum. And the Princess 
 laughed openly at him, her eyes dancing in 
 delight and amusement. But he still looked 
 more as though he were going to be hanged 
 than he had any time before in the day. 
 So that the King, pointing at him, said to 
 Osra : 
 
 " An ungrateful dog ! Upon my soul he 
 
J3 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 looks as though he were sorry not to be 
 hanged ! Do you call that courtesy ? " 
 
 But the Princess laughed softly and rub- 
 bed the ring on her finger, as she answered : 
 
 " Aye, sire, I call that the best of cour- 
 tesy." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein* 
 
 IN the days of Rudolf III. there stood on 
 the hill opposite the Castle of Zenda, and 
 on the other side of the valley in which the 
 town lies, on the site where the chdteau of 
 Tarlenheim now is situated, a fine and 
 strong castle belonging to Count Nikolas 
 of Festenburg. He was a noble of very 
 old and high family, and had great estates ; 
 his house being, indeed, second only to the 
 Royal House in rank and reputation. He 
 himself was a young man of great accom- 
 plishments, of a domineering temper, and 
 of much ambition ; and he had gained dis- 
 tinction in the wars that marked the closing 
 years of the reign of King Henry the Lion. 
 With King Rudolf he was not on terms of 
 cordial friendship, for he despised the King's 
 easy manners and carelessness of dignity,, 
 while the King had no love for a gentleman 
 whose one object seemed to be to surpass 
 and outshine him in the eyes of his people, 
 
132 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 and who never rested from extending and 
 fortifying his castle until it threatened to 
 surpass Zenda itself both in strength and 
 magnificence. Moreover Nikolas, although 
 maintaining a state ample and suitable to 
 his rank, was yet careful and prudent, 
 while Rudolf spent all that he received and 
 more besides, so that the Count grew 
 richer and the King poorer. But in spite 
 of these causes of difference, the Count was 
 received at Court with apparent gracious- 
 ness, and no open outburst of enmity had 
 yet occurred, the pair being, on the contrary, 
 often together, and sharing their sports and 
 pastimes with one another. 
 
 Now most of these diversions were harm- 
 less, or, indeed, becoming and proper, but 
 there was one among' them full of danger to 
 a man of hot head and ungoverned impulse 
 such as King Rudolf was. And this one 
 was diceing, in which the King took great 
 delight, and in which the Count Nikolas was 
 very ready to encourage him. The King, 
 who was generous and hated to win from 
 poor men or those who might be playing 
 beyond their means in order to give him 
 pleasure, was delighted to find an opponent 
 whose purse was as long or longer than his 
 own, and thus gradually came to pass many 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modensteiru 133 
 
 evenings with the boxes in Nikolas's com- 
 pany. And the more evenings he passed 
 the deeper he fell into the Count's debt ; for 
 the King drank wine, while the Count was 
 content with small beer, and when the 
 King was losing he doubled his stakes, 
 whereas the Count took in sail if the wind 
 seemed adverse. Thus always and steadily 
 the debt grew, till at last Rudolf dared not 
 reckon how large it had become, nor did he 
 dare to disclose it to his advisers. For 
 there were great public burdens already im- 
 posed by reason of King Henry's wars, 
 and the citizens of Strelsau were ncft in a 
 mood to bear fresh exaction, nor to give their 
 hard earnings for the payment of the King's 
 gambling debts ; in fine, although they 
 loved the Elphbergs well enough, they 
 loved their money more. Thus the King 
 had no resource except in his private pos- 
 sessions, and these were of no great value, 
 saving the Castle and estate of Zenda. 
 
 At length, when they had sat late one 
 night and the throws had gone all the 
 evening against the King and for Nikolas, 
 the King flung himself back in his chair, 
 drained his glass, and said impatiently : 
 
 " I am weary of the game ! Come, my 
 lord, let us end it." 
 
134 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 " I would not urge you, sire, a moment 
 beyond what you desire. I play but for 
 your pleasure." 
 
 " Then my pleasure has been your profit," 
 said the King with a vexed laugh, " for 
 I believe I am stripped of my last crown. 
 What is my debt?" 
 
 The Count, who had the whole sum 
 reckoned on his tablets, took them out, 
 and shewed the King the amount of the 
 debt. 
 
 " I cannot pay it," said Rudolf. " I would 
 play you again, to double the debt or wipe 
 it out* but I have nothing of value enough 
 to stake." 
 
 The desire which had been nursed for 
 long in the Count's heart now saw the 
 moment of its possible realisation. 
 
 He leant over the table, and, smoothing 
 his beard with his hand, said gently : 
 
 " The amount is no more than half the 
 value of your Majesty's Castle and demesne 
 of Zenda." 
 
 The King started and forced a laugh. 
 
 " Aye, Zenda spoils the prospect from 
 Festenburg, does it?" said he. "But I 
 will not risk Zenda. An Elphberg with- 
 out Zenda would seem like a man robbed 
 of his wife. We have had it since we have 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein. 135 
 
 had anything or been anything. I should 
 not seem King without it." 
 
 " As you will, sire. Then the debt 
 stands?" He looked full and keenly into 
 the King's eyes, asking without words, 
 " How will you pay it ? " and adding with- 
 out words, " Paid it must be." And the 
 King read the unspoken words in the eyes 
 of Count Nikolas. 
 
 The King took up his glass, but finding 
 it empty flung it angrily on the floor, where 
 it shivered into fragments at Count Nikolas's 
 feet ; and he shifted in his chair and cursed 
 softly under his breath. Nikolas sat with 
 the dice-box in his hand and a smile on his 
 lips ; for he knew that the King could not 
 pay, and therefore must play, and he was 
 in the vein, and did not doubt of winning 
 from the King Zenda and its demesne. 
 Then he would be the greatest lord in the 
 kingdom, and hold for his own a kingdom 
 within the kingdom, and the two strongest 
 places in all the land. And a greater 
 prize might then dangle in reach of his 
 grasp. 
 
 ' The devil spurs and I gallop," said the 
 King at last. And he took up the dice-box 
 and rattled it. 
 
 " Fortune will smile on you this time, sire, 
 
136 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 and I shall not grieve at it," said Count 
 Nikolas with a courteous smile. 
 
 "Curses on her!" cried the King. 
 " Come, my lord, a quick ending to it ! One 
 throw, and I am a free man, or you are 
 master of my castle." 
 
 " One throw let it be, sire, for it grows 
 late," assented Nikolas with a careless air ; 
 and they both raised the boxes and rattled 
 the dice inside them. The King threw ; 
 his throw was a six and a five, and a sudden 
 gleam of hope lit up his eyes ; he leant 
 forward in his chair, gripping the elbows of 
 it with his hands ; his cheeks flushed and 
 his breath came quickly. With a bow 
 Count Nikolas raised his hand and threw. 
 The dice fell and rolled on the table. The 
 King sank back ; and the Count said with 
 a smile of apology and a shrug of his 
 shoulders : 
 
 " Indeed I am ashamed. For I cannot 
 be denied to-night." 
 
 For Count Nikolas of Festenburg had 
 thrown sixes,t and thereby won from the 
 King the Castle and demesne of Zenda. 
 
 He rose from his chair, and, having 
 buckled on his sword that had lain on the 
 table by him, and taking his hat in his hand, 
 stood looking down on the King with a 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein. 137 
 
 
 
 malicious smile on his face. And he said 
 with a look that had more mockery than 
 respect in it : 
 
 " Have I your Majesty's leave to with- 
 draw ? For ere day dawn, I have matters 
 to transact in Strelsau, and I would be at 
 my Castle of Zenda to-night." 
 
 Then King Rudolf took a sheet of paper 
 and wrote an order that the Castle, and all 
 that was in it, and all the demesne should 
 be surrendered to Count Nikolas of Festen- 
 burg on his demand, and he gave the paper 
 to Nikolas. Then he rose up and held out 
 his hand, which Nikolas kissed, smiling 
 covertly, and the King said with grace and 
 dignity : 
 
 " Cousin, my Castle has found a more 
 worthy master. God give you joy of it." 
 
 And he motioned with his hand to be left 
 alone. Then, when the Count had gone, 
 he sat down in his chair again, and remained 
 there till it was full day, neither moving nor 
 yet sleeping. There he was found by his 
 gentlemen when they came to dress him, 
 but none asked him what had passed. 
 
 Count Nikolas, now Lord of Zenda, did 
 not so waste time, and the matters that he 
 had spoken of did not keep him long in 
 Strelsau ; but in the early morning he rode 
 
 J % o 
 
138 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 out, the paper which the King had written 
 in his belt. 
 
 First he rode with all speed to his own 
 house of Festenburg, and there he gathered 
 together all his followers, servants, foresters, 
 and armed retainers, and he told them that 
 they were to ride with him to Zenda, for 
 that Zenda was now his and not the King's. 
 At this they were greatly astonished, but 
 they ate the fine dinner and drank the wine 
 which he provided, and in the evening they 
 rode down the hill very merry, and trotted, 
 nearly a hundred strong, through the town, 
 making a great noise, so that they disturbed 
 the Bishop of Modenstein, who was lying 
 that night at the inn in the course of a 
 journey from his See to the Capital ; but 
 nobody could tell the Bishop why they rode 
 to Zenda, and presently the Bishop, being 
 wearied with travelling, went to his bed. 
 
 Now King Rudolf, in his chagrin and 
 dismay, had himself forgotten, or had at 
 least neglected to warn the Count of Fes- 
 tenburg, that his sister Princess Osra was 
 residing at the Castle of Zenda ; for it was 
 her favourite resort, and she often retired 
 from the Court and spent many days there 
 alone. There she was now with two of her 
 ladies, a small retinue of servants, and no 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein* 139 
 
 more than half a dozen Guards ; and when 
 Count Nikolas came to the gate, it being 
 then after nine, she had gone to her own 
 chamber, and sat before the mirror, dressed 
 in a loose white gown, with her ruddy hair 
 unbound and floating over her shoulders. 
 She was reading an old story book, contain- 
 ing tales of Helen of Troy, of Cleopatra, 
 of Berenice, and other lovely ladies, very 
 elegantly related and embellished with fine 
 pictures. And the Princess, being very 
 much absorbed in the stories, did not hear 
 nor notice the arrival of the Count's com- 
 pany, but continued to read, while Nikolas 
 roused the watchmen, and the bridge was 
 let down, and the steward summoned. 
 Then Nikolas took the steward aside, and 
 shewed him the King's order, bearing the 
 King's seal, and the steward, although both 
 greatly astonished and greatly grieved, 
 could not deny the letter or the seal, but 
 declared himself ready to obey and to sur- 
 render the Castle ; and the sergeant in 
 command of the Guard said the same ; but, 
 they added, since the Princess was in the 
 Castle, they must inform her of the matter, 
 and take her commands. 
 
 " Aye, do," said Nikolas, sitting down in 
 the great hall. " Tell her not to be dis- 
 
140 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 turbed, but to give me the honour of being 
 her host for as long as she will, and say 
 that I will wait on her, if it be her pleas- 
 
 ure." 
 
 But he smiled to think of the anger and 
 scorn with which Osra would receive the 
 tidings when the steward delivered them to 
 her. 
 
 In this respect the event did not fall short 
 of his expectations, for she was so indignant 
 and aghast that, thinking of nothing but 
 the tidings, she flung away the book and 
 cried : " Send the Count here to me," and 
 stood waiting for him there in her chamber, 
 in her white gown and with her hair un- 
 bound and flowing down over her shoulders. 
 And when he came she cried : " What is 
 this, my lord ?j" and listened to his story 
 with parted lips and flashing eyes, and thus 
 read the King's letter and saw the King's 
 seal. And her eyes filled with tears, but 
 she dashed them away with her hand. 
 Then the Count said, bowing to her as 
 mockingly as he had bowed to her brother : 
 
 " It is the fortune of the dice, madame." 
 
 " Yes, my lord, as you play the game," 
 said she. 
 
 His eyes were fixed on her, and it seemed 
 to him that she was more beautiful in her 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein* 141 
 
 white gown and with her hair unbound over 
 her shoulders, than he had ever felt her to 
 be before, and he eyed her closely. Sud- 
 denly she looked at him, and for a moment 
 he averted his eyes ; but he looked again 
 and her eyes met his. For several mo- 
 ments she stood rigid and motionless. Then 
 she said : 
 
 " My lord, the King has lost the Castle 
 of Zenda, which is the home and cradle of 
 our House. It was scarcely the King's 
 alone to lose. Have I no title in it ? " 
 
 " It was the King's, madame, and now it 
 is mine," smiled Nikolas. 
 
 " Well, then, it is yours," said she, and 
 taking a step towards him, she said : " Have 
 you a mind to venture it again, my lord ?" 
 
 " I would venture it only against a great 
 stake," said he, smiling still, while his eyes 
 were fixed on her face and marked every 
 change in the colour of her cheeks, i 
 
 " I can play dice as well as the King," 
 she cried. " Are we not all gamblers, we 
 Elphbergs ? " And she laughed bitterly. 
 
 " But what would your stake be ? " he 
 asked sneeringly. 
 
 Princess Osra's face was now very pale, 
 but her voice did not tremble and she did 
 not flinch ; for the honour of her House 
 
142 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 and of the throne was as sacred to her as 
 her salvation, and more than her happiness. 
 
 " A stake, my lord,'* said she, " that many 
 gentlemen have thought above any castle 
 in preciousness." 
 
 " Of what do you speak ? " he asked, and 
 his voice quivered a little, as a man's does 
 in excitement. " For, pardon me, madame, 
 but what have you of such value ? " 
 
 " I have what the poorest girl has, and 
 it is of the value that it pleased God to 
 make it and pleases men to think it," said 
 Osra. " And all of it I will stake against 
 the King's Castle of Zenda and its de- 
 
 mesne." 
 
 Count Nikolas's eyes flashed and he drew 
 nearer to her ; he took his dice-box from 
 his pocket, and he held it up before her, 
 and he whispered in an eager hoarse voice : 
 
 " Name this great stake, madame ; what 
 is it ? " 
 
 " It is myself, my lord," said Princess 
 Osra. 
 
 " Yourself ? " he cried wondering, though 
 he had half guessed. 
 
 " Aye. To be the Lord of Zenda is 
 much. Is it not more to be husband to the 
 King's sister ? " 
 
 "It is more," said he, "when the King's 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Mocfenstein* 143 
 
 sister is the Princess Osra." And he looked 
 at her now with open admiration. But she 
 did not heed his glance, but with face pale 
 as death she seized a small table and drew 
 it between them and cried : " Throw then, 
 my lord ! We know the stakes." 
 
 " If you win, Zenda is yours. If I win, 
 you are mine." 
 
 " Yes, I and Zenda also," said she. 
 " Throw, my lord ! " 
 
 " Shall we throw thrice, madame, or once, 
 or how often ? " 
 
 " Thrice, my lord," she answered, tossing 
 back her hair behind her neck, and holding 
 one hand to her side. " Throw first," she 
 added. 
 
 The Count rattled the box ; and the 
 throw was seven. Osra took the box from 
 him, looked keenly and defiantly in his eyes, 
 and threw. 
 
 " Fortune is with you, madame," said he, 
 biting his lips. " For a five and a four make 
 nine, or I err greatly." 
 
 He took the box from her; his hand 
 shook, but hers was firm and steady ; and 
 again he threw. 
 
 " Ah, it is but five," said he impatiently, 
 and a frown settled on his brow. 
 
 " It is enough, my lord," said Osra; and 
 
144 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 pointed to the dice that :she had thrown, a 
 three and a one. 
 
 The Count's eyes gleamed again ; he 
 sprang towards her, and was about to 
 seize the box. But he checked himself sud- 
 denly, and bowed, saying : 
 
 " Throw first this time, I pray you, ma- 
 dame, if it be not disagreeable to you." 
 
 " I do not care which way it is," said Osra, 
 and she shook and made her third cast. 
 When she lifted the box, the face of the 
 dice showed seven. A smile broadened on 
 the Count's lips, for he thought surely he 
 could beat seven, he that had beaten eleven 
 and thereby won the Castle of Zenda, which 
 now he staked against the Princess Osra. 
 But his eyes were very keenly and atten- 
 tively on her, and he held the box poised, 
 shoulder-high, in his right hand. 
 
 Then a sudden faintness and sickness 
 seized on the Princess, and the composure 
 that had hitherto upheld her failed ; she 
 could not meet his glance, nor could she 
 bear to see the fall of the dice ; but she 
 turned away her head before he threw, and 
 stood thus with averted face. But he kept 
 attentive eyes on her, and drew very near to 
 the table so that he stood right over it. 
 And the Princess Osra caught sight of her 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein, 145 
 
 own face in the mirror, and started to see 
 herself pallid and ghastly, and her features 
 drawn as though she were suffering some 
 great pain. Yet she uttered no sound, 
 
 The dice rattled in the box ; they rattled 
 on the table ; there was a pause while a 
 man might quickly count a dozen ; and then 
 Count Nikolas of Festenburg cried out in 
 a voice that trembled and tripped over the 
 words : 
 
 " Eight, eight, eight !" 
 
 But before the last of the words had left 
 his shaking lips, the Princess Osra faced 
 round on him like lightning. She raised 
 her hand so that the loose white sleeve fell 
 back from her rounded arm, and her eyes 
 flashed, and her lips curled as she out- 
 stretched her arm at him, and cried : 
 
 " Foul play ! " 
 
 For, as she watched her own pale face in 
 the mirror the mirror which Count Nikolas 
 had not heeded she had seen him throw, 
 she had seen him stand for an instant over 
 the dice he had thrown with gloomy and 
 maddened face ; and then she had seen a 
 slight swift movement of his left hand, as 
 his fingers deftly darted down and touched 
 one of the dice and turned it. And all this 
 3he had seen before he had cried eight. 
 
146 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 Therefore now she turned on him, and cried, 
 " Foul play ! " and before he could speak, 
 she darted by him towards the door. But 
 he sprang forward, and caught her by the 
 arm above the wrist and gripped her, and 
 his fingers bit into the flesh of her arm, as 
 he gasped, " You lie ! Where are you 
 going?" But her voice rang out clear and 
 loud in answer : 
 
 " I am going to tell all the world that 
 Zenda is ours again, and I am going to 
 publish in every city in the kingdom that 
 Count Nikolas of Festenburg is a common 
 cheat and rogue, and should be whipped at 
 the cart's tail through the streets of Strelsau. 
 For I saw you in the mirror, my lord, I saw 
 you in the mirror ! " And she ended with 
 a wild laugh that echoed through the room. 
 
 Still he gripped her arm, and she did not 
 flinch; for, an instant he looked full in her 
 eyes ; covetousness, and desire, and shame, 
 came all together upon him, and over-mas- 
 tered him, and he hissed between set teeth : 
 
 " You shan't ! By God, you shan't ! " 
 
 " Aye, but I will, my lord," said Osra. 
 " It is a fine tale for the King and for your 
 friends in Strelsau." 
 
 An instant longer he held her where she 
 was ; and he gasped and licked his lips. 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein. 147 
 
 Then he suddenly dragged her with him 
 towards a couch ; seizing up a coverlet that 
 lay on the couch he flung it around her, and 
 he folded it tight about her, and he drew it 
 close over her face. She could not cry out 
 nor move. He lifted her up and swung 
 her over his shoulder, and, opening the door 
 of the room, dashed down the stairs towards 
 the great hall. 
 
 In the great hall were six of the King's 
 Guard, and some of the servants of the Cas- 
 tle, and many of the people who had come 
 with "Count Nikolas ; they all sprang to 
 their feet when they saw them. He took 
 no heed of them, but rushed at a run 
 through the hall, and out under the port- 
 cullis and across the bridge, which had not 
 been raised since he entered. There at the 
 end of the bridge a lackey held his horse ; 
 and he leapt on his horse, setting one hand 
 on the saddle, and still holding Osra ; and 
 then he cried aloud : 
 
 " My men follow me ! To Festenburg ! " 
 And all his men ran out, the King's 
 Guard doing nothing to hinder them, and 
 jumping on their horses and setting them 
 at a gallop, hurried after the Count. He, 
 riding furiously, turned towards the town 
 of Zenda, and the whole company swept 
 
148 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 down the hill, and, reaching the town, clat- 
 tered and dashed through it at full gallop, 
 neither drawing rein nor turning to right 01 
 left ; and again they roused the Bishop of 
 Modenstein, and he turned in his bed, won- 
 dering what the rush of mounted men 
 meant. But they, galloping still, climbed 
 the opposite hill and came to the Castle of 
 Festenburg with their horses spent and 
 foundered. In they all crowded, close on 
 one another's heels ; the bridge was drawn 
 up ; and there in the entrance they stood 
 looking at one another, asking mutely what 
 their master had done, and who was the 
 lady whom he carried wrapped in the cover- 
 let. But he ran on till he reached the 
 stairs, and he climbed them, and entering a 
 room in the gate-tower, looking over the 
 moat, he laid the Princess Osra on a couch, 
 and standing over her he smote one hand 
 upon the other, and he swore loudly : 
 
 " Now, as God lives, Zenda I will have > 
 and her I will have, and it shall be her 
 husband whom she must, if she will, pro- 
 claim a cheat in Strelsau ! " 
 
 Then he bent down and lifted the cover- 
 let from her face. But she did not stir nor 
 speak, nor open her eyes. For she had 
 fallen into a swoon as they rode, and did 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein* 149 
 
 not know what had befallen her, nor where 
 she had been brought, nor that she was now 
 in the Castle of Festenburg, and in the 
 power of a desperate man. .Thus she lay 
 still and white, while Count Nikolas stood 
 over her and bit his nails in rage. And it 
 was then just on midnight. 
 
 On being disturbed for the third time, the 
 Bishop of Modenstein, whose temper was 
 hot and cost him continual prayers and 
 penances from the mastery it strove to win 
 over him, was very impatient ; and since he 
 was at once angry and half asleep, it was 
 long before he could or would understand 
 the monstrous news with which his terrified 
 host came trembling and quaking to his 
 bedside in the dead of the night. A ser- 
 vant-girl, stammered the frightened fellow, 
 had run down half dressed and panting from 
 the Castle of Zenda, and declared that 
 whether they chose to believe her or not 
 and, indeed, she could hardly believe such 
 a thing herself, although she had seen it 
 with her own eyes from her own window 
 yet Count Nikolas of Festenburg had 
 come to the Castle that evening, had spoken 
 with Princess Osra, and now (they might 
 call her a liar if they chose) had carried off 
 the Princess with him on his horse to Fes- 
 
150 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 tenburg; alive or dead none knew, and the 
 men-servants were amazed and terrified, 
 and the soldiers were at their wits' end, 
 talking big and threatening to bring ten 
 thousand men from Strelsau and to leave 
 not one stone upon another at Festenburg, 
 and what not. But all the while and for 
 all their big talk nothing was done ; and 
 the Princess was at Festenburg, alive or 
 dead or in what strait none knew. And, 
 finally, nobody but one poor servant-girl 
 had had the wit to run down and rouse the 
 town. 
 
 The Bishop of Modenstein sat up in his 
 bed and he fairly roared at the innkeeper : 
 
 " Are there no men, then, who can fight 
 in the town, fool ?" 
 
 " None, none, my lord not against the 
 Count. Count Nikolas is a terrible man. 
 Please God, he has not killed the Princess 
 by now." 
 
 " Saddle my horse," said the Bishop, " and 
 be quick with it." 
 
 And he leapt out of bed with sparkling 
 eyes. For the Bishop was a young man, 
 but a little turned of thirty, and he was a 
 noble of the old House of Hentzau. Now 
 some of the Hentzaus (of whom history 
 tells us of many) have been good, and some 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein* 151 
 
 have been bad ; and the good fear God, 
 while the bad do not ; but neither the good 
 nor the bad fear anything in the world be- 
 sides. Hence, for good or ill, they do great 
 deeds and risk their lives as another man 
 risks a pemny. So the Bishop, leaving his 
 bed, dressed himself in breeches and boots, 
 and set a black hat with a violet feather on 
 his head, and, staying to put on nothing else 
 but his shirt and his cloak over it, in ten 
 minutes was on his horse at the door of the 
 inn. For a moment he looked at a strag- 
 gling crowd that had gathered there ; then 
 with a toss of his head and a curl of his lip 
 he told them what he thought of them, 
 saying openly that he thanked heaven they 
 were not of his diocese, and in an instant 
 he was galloping through the streets of the 
 town towards the Castle of Festenburg, 
 with his sword by his side and a brace of 
 pistols in the holsters of the saddle. Thus 
 he left the gossipers and vapourers behind, 
 and rode alone as he was up the hill, his 
 blood leaping and his heart beating quick ; 
 for, as he went, he said to himself : 
 
 " It is not often a Churchman has a 
 chance like this." 
 
 On the stroke of half-past twelve he came 
 to the bridge of the Castle moat, and the 
 
152 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 bridge was up. But the Bishop shouted, and 
 the watchman came out and stood in the 
 
 fateway across the moat, and, the night being 
 ne and clear, he presented an excellent aim. 
 
 " My pistol is straight at your head," 
 cried the Bishop, " let down the bridge. I 
 am Frederick of Hentzau ; that is, I am the 
 Bishop of Modenstein, and I charge you, if 
 you are a dutiful son of the Church, to 
 obey me. The pistol is full- at your head/' 
 
 The watchman knew the Bishop, but he 
 also knew the Count his master. 
 
 " I dare not let down the bridge without 
 an order from my lord," he faltered. 
 
 " Then before you can turn round, you're 
 a dead man," said the Bishop. 
 
 "Will you hold me harmless with my 
 lord, if I let it down ? " 
 
 " Aye, he shall not hurt you. But if you 
 do not immediately let it down, I'll shoot 
 you first and refuse you Christian burial af- 
 terwards. Come, down with it." 
 
 So the watchman, fearing that, if he re- 
 fused, the Bishop would spare neither body 
 nor soul, but would destroy the one and 
 damn the other, let down the bridge, and the 
 Bishop, leaping from his horse, ran across 
 with his drawn sword in one hand and a pistol 
 in the other. Walking into the hall, he 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein. 153 
 
 found a great company of Count Nikolas's 
 men, drinking with one another, but talking 
 uneasily and seeming alarmed. And the 
 Bishop raised the hand that held the sword 
 above his head in the attitude of benedic- 
 tion, saying, " Peace be with you ! " 
 
 Most of them knew him by his face, and 
 all knew him as soon as a comrade whis- 
 pered his name, and they sprang to their 
 feet, uncovering their heads and bowing. 
 And he said : 
 
 " Where is your master the Count ?" 
 
 " The Count is upstairs, my lord," they 
 answered. " You cannot see him now." 
 
 " Nay, but I will see him," said the Bishop. 
 
 " We are ordered to let none pass," said 
 they, and although their manner was full of 
 respect, they spread themselves across the 
 hall, and thus barred the way to the stair- 
 case that rose in the corner of the hall. 
 But the Bishop faced them in great anger, 
 crying : 
 
 " Do you think I do not know what has 
 been done ? Are you all, then, parties in 
 this treachery? Do you all want to swing 
 from the turrets of the Castle when the 
 King comes with a thousand men from 
 Strelsau?" 
 
 At this they looked at him and at one 
 
154 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 another with great uneasiness ; for they knew 
 that the King had no mercy when he was 
 roused, and that he loved his sister above 
 everybody in the world. And the Bishop 
 stepped up close to their rank. Then one 
 of them drew his sword half-way from its 
 scabbard. But the Bishop, perceiving this, 
 cried : 
 
 " Do you all do violence to a lady, and 
 dare to lay hands on the King's sister? 
 Aye, and here is a fellow that would strike 
 a Bishop of God's Church ! " And he caught 
 the fellow a buffet with the flat of his sword, 
 that knocked him down, " Let me pass, you 
 rogues," said the Bishop. " Do you think 
 you can stop a Hentzau ?" 
 
 " Let us go and tell the Count that my 
 lord the Bishop is here," cried the house- 
 steward, thinking that he had found a way 
 out of the difficulty ; for they dared neither 
 to touch the Bishop nor yet to let him 
 through ; and the steward turned to run 
 towards the staircase. But the Bishop 
 sprang after him, quick as an arrow, and, 
 dropping the pistol from his left hand, 
 caught him by the shoulder and hurled him 
 back. " I want no announcing," he said. 
 "The Church is free to enter everywhere." 
 And he burst through them at the point of 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein. 155 
 
 the sword, reckless now what might befall 
 him so that he made his way through. But 
 they did not venture to cut him down ; for 
 they knew that nothing but death would 
 stop him, and for their very souls' sake they 
 dared not kill him. So he, kicking one and 
 pushing another and laying about him with 
 the flat of his sword and with his free hand, 
 and reminding them all the while of their 
 duty to the Church and of his sacred char- 
 acter, at last made his way through and 
 stood alone, unhurt, at the foot of the stair- 
 case, while they cowered by the walls or 
 looked at him in stupid helplessness and 
 bewilderment. And the Bishop swiftly 
 mounted the stairs. 
 
 At this instant in the room in the gate- 
 tower of the Castle overlooking the moat 
 there had fallen a moment of dead silence. 
 Here Count Nikolas had raised the Princess, 
 set her on a couch, and waited till her faint- 
 ness and fright were gone. Then he had 
 come near to her, and in brief harsh tones 
 told her his mind. For him, indeed, the 
 dice were now cast ; in his fury and fear he 
 had dared all. He was calm now, with the 
 calmness of a man at a great turn of fate. 
 That room, he told her, she should never 
 leave alive, save as his promised wife, sworn 
 
156 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 and held to secrecy and silence by the force 
 of that bond and of her oath. If he killed 
 her he must die, whether by his own hand 
 or the King's mattered little. But he would 
 die for a great cause and in a great venture. 
 " I shall not be called a cheating gamester, 
 madame," said he, a smile on his pale face. 
 " I choose death sooner than disgrace. 
 Such is my choice. What is yours ? It 
 stands between death and silence ; and no 
 man but your husband will dare to trust 
 your silence." 
 
 " You do not dare to kill me," said she de- 
 fiantly. 
 
 " Madame, I dare do nothing else. They 
 may write 'murderer' on my tomb; they 
 shall not throw 'cheat' in my living face." 
 
 " I will not be silent," cried Osra, springing 
 to her feet. " And rather than be your wife 
 I would die a thousand times. For a cheat 
 you are a cheat a cheat ! " Her voice 
 rose, till he feared that she would be heard, 
 if any one chanced to listen, even from so 
 far off as the hall. Yet he made one more 
 effort, seeking to move her by an appeal 
 to which women are not wont to be insen- 
 sible. 
 
 " A cheat, yes !" said he. " I, Nikolas of 
 Festenburg, am a cheat. I say it, though no 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modensteiru 157 
 
 other man shall while I live to hear him. 
 But to gain what stake ?" 
 
 " Why, my brother's Castle of Zenda." 
 
 " I swear to you it was not," he cried, 
 coming nearer to her. " I did not fear losing 
 on the cast, but I could not endure not to 
 win. Not my stake, madame, but yours 
 lured me to my foul play. Have you your 
 face, and yet do not know to what it drives 
 men ?" 
 
 " If I have a fair face, it should inspire 
 fair deeds," said she. " Do not touch me, 
 sir, do not touch me. I loathe breathing the 
 same air with you, or so much as seeing your 
 face. Aye, and I can die. Even the women 
 of our House know how to die." 
 
 At her scorn and contempt a great rage 
 came upon him, and he gripped the hilt of 
 his sword, and drew it from the scabbard. 
 But she stood still, facing him with calm 
 eyes. Her lips moved for a moment in 
 prayer, but she did not shrink. 
 
 " I pray you," said he in trembling speech, 
 mastering himself for an instant, " I pray 
 you !" But he could say no more. 
 
 " I will cry your cheating in all Strelsau," 
 said she. 
 
 "Then commend your soul to God. For 
 in one minute you shall die." 
 
158 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 Still she stood motionless ; and he began 
 to come near to her, his sword now drawn in 
 his hand. Having come within the distance 
 from which he could strike her, he paused 
 and gazed into her eyes. She answered him 
 with a smile. Then there was for an instant 
 the utter stillness in the room ; and in that 
 instant the Bishop of Modenstein set his 
 foot on the staircase and came running up. 
 On a sudden Osra heard the step, and a 
 gleam flashed in her eye. The Count heard 
 it also, and his sword was arrested in its 
 stroke. A smile came on his face. He was 
 glad at the coming of some one whom he 
 might kill in fight ; for it turned him 
 sick to butcher her unresisting. Yet he 
 dared not let her go, to cry his cheating in 
 the streets of Strelsau. The steps came 
 nearer. 
 
 He dropped his sword on the floor and 
 sprang upon her. A shriek rang out, but 
 he pressed his hand on her mouth and seized 
 her in his arms. She had no strength to 
 resist, and he carried her swiftly across the 
 room to a door in the wall. He pulled the 
 door open it was very heavy and massive 
 and he flung her down roughly on the stone 
 floor of a little chamber, square and lofty, 
 having but one small window high up, 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein. 159 
 
 through which the moonlight scarcely 
 pierced. She fell with a moan of pain. 
 Unheeding, he turned on his heel and shut 
 the door. And, as he turned, he heard a 
 man throw himself against the door of the 
 room. It also was strong and twice the 
 man hurled himself with all his force against 
 it. At last it strained and gave way ; and 
 the Bishop of Modenstein burst into the 
 room breathless. And he saw no trace of 
 the Princess's presence, but only Count 
 Nikolas standing sword in hand in front of 
 the door in the wall with a sneering smile 
 on his face. 
 
 The Bishop of Modenstein never loved to 
 speak afterwards of what followed, saying 
 always that he rather deplored than gloried 
 in it, and that when a man of sacred pro- 
 fession was forced to use the weapons of 
 this world it was a matter of grief to him, 
 not of vaunting. But the King compelled 
 him by urgent requests to describe the 
 whole affair, while the Princess was never 
 weary of telling all that she knew, or of 
 blessing all bishops for the sake of the 
 Bishop of Modenstein. Yet the Bishop 
 blamed himself ; perhaps, if the truth were 
 known, not for the necessity that drove him 
 to do what he did, as much as for a secret 
 
160 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 and ashamed joy which he detected in him- 
 self. For certainly, as he burst into the 
 room now, there was no sign of reluctance 
 or unwillingness in his face ; he took off his 
 feathered hat, bowed politely to the Count, 
 and resting the point of his sword on the 
 floor, asked : 
 
 " My lord, where is the Princess ? " 
 
 4 What do you want here, and who are 
 you ?" cried the Count with a blasphemous 
 oath. 
 
 " When we were boys together, you knew 
 Frederick of Hentzau. Do you not now 
 know the Bishop of Modenstein ? " 
 
 " Bishop ! This is no place for bishops. 
 Get back to your prayers, my lord." 
 
 u It wants some time yet before matins," 
 answered the Bishop. " My lord, where is 
 the Princess ? " 
 
 " What do you want with her ? " 
 
 " I am here to escort her wherever it 
 may be her pleasure to go." 
 
 He spoke confidently, but he was in his 
 heart alarmed and uneasy because he had 
 not found the Princess. 
 
 11 1 do not know where she is," said 
 Nikolas of Festenburg. 
 
 " My lord, you lie," said the Bishop of 
 Modenstein. 
 
MY LORD, WHERE IS THE PRINCESS ?' "Page l6o. 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein* 16.1 
 
 The Count had wanted nothing but an 
 excuse for attacking the intruder. He had 
 it now, and an angry flush mounted in his 
 cheeks as he walked across to where the 
 Bishop stood. 
 
 Shifting his sword, which he had picked 
 up again, to his left hand, he struck the 
 Bishop on the face with his gloved hand. 
 The Bishop smiled and turned the other 
 cheek to Count Nikolas, who struck again 
 with all his force, so that he reeled back, 
 catching hold of the open door to avoid 
 falling, and the blood started dull red under 
 the skin of his face. But he still smiled, 
 and bowed, saying : 
 
 " I find nothing about the third blow in 
 Holy Scripture." 
 
 At this instant the Princess Osra, who 
 had been half stunned by the violence with 
 which Nikolas had thrown her on the floor, 
 came to her full senses and, hearing the 
 Bishop's voice, she cried out loudly for help. 
 He, hearing her, darted in an instant across 
 the room, and was at the door of the little 
 chamber before the Count could stop him. 
 He pulled the door open and Osra sprang 
 out to him, saying : 
 
 " Save me ! Save me!" 
 
 " You are safe, madame, have no fear," 
 
162 The Heart of Princess Osra, 
 
 answered the Bishop. And turning to the 
 Count, he continued : " Let us go outside, 
 my lord, and discuss this matter. Our dis- 
 pute will disturb and perhaps alarm the 
 Princess." 
 
 And a man might have read the purpose 
 in his eyes, though his manner and words 
 were gentle ; for he had sworn in his heart 
 that the Count should not escape. 
 
 But the Count cared as little for the 
 presence of the Princess as he had for her 
 dignity, her honour, or her life : and now 
 that she was no longer wholly at his mercy, 
 but there was a new chance that she might 
 escape, his rage and the fear of exposure 
 lashed him to fury, and, without more talk- 
 ing, he made at the Bishop, crying : 
 
 " You first, and then her ! I'll be rid of 
 the pair of you ? " 
 
 The Bishop faced him, standing between 
 Princess Osra and his assault, while she 
 shrank back a little, sheltering herself be- 
 hind the heavy door. For although she 
 had been ready to die without fear, yet the 
 sight of men fighting frightened her, and 
 she veiled her face with her hands, and 
 waited in dread to hear the sound of their 
 swords clashing. But the Bishop looked 
 very happy, and, setting his hat on his head 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein. 163 
 
 with a jaunty air, he stood on guard. For 
 ten years or more he had not used his 
 sword, but the secret of its mastery seemed 
 to revive, fresh and clear in his mind, and 
 let his soul say what it would, his body 
 rejoiced to be at the exercise again, so that 
 his blood kindled and his eyes gleamed in 
 the glee of strife. Thus he stepped for- 
 ward, guarding himself, and thus he met 
 the Count's impetuous onset ; he neither 
 flinched nor gave back, but finding himself 
 holding his own, he pressed on and on, not 
 violently attacking and yet never resting, 
 and turning every thrust with a wrist of 
 iron. And while Osra now gazed with wide 
 eyes and close-held breath, and Count 
 Nikolas muttered oaths and grew more 
 furious, the Bishop seemed as gay as when 
 he talked to the King, more gaily, may be, 
 than Bishops should. Again his eye 
 danced as in the days when he had been 
 called the wildest of the Hentzaus. And 
 still he drove Count Nikolas back and back. 
 Now behind the Count was a window, 
 which he himself had caused to be enlarged 
 and made low and wide, in order that he 
 might look from it over the surrounding 
 country ; in time of war it was covered with 
 a close and strong iron grating. But now 
 
164 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 the grating was off and the window open, 
 and beneath the window was a fall of fifty 
 feet or hard upon it into the moat below. 
 The Count, looking into the Bishop's face, 
 and seeing him smile, suddenly recollected 
 the window, and fancied it was the Bishop's 
 design to drive him on to it so that he 
 could give back no more ; and, since he 
 knew by now that the Bishop was his master 
 with the sword, a despairing rage settled 
 upon him ; determining to die swiftly, since 
 die he must, he rushed forward, making a 
 desperate lunge at his enemy. But the 
 Bishop parried the lunge, and, always seem- 
 ing to be about to run the Count through 
 the body, again forced him to retreat till his 
 back was close to the opening of the win- 
 dow. Here Nikolas stood, his eyes glaring 
 like a madman's ; then a sudden devilish 
 smile spread over his face. 
 
 ' Will you yield yourself, my lord ? " cried 
 the Bishop, putting a restraint on the 
 wicked impulse to kill the man, and lower- 
 ing his point for an instant. 
 
 In that short moment the Count made 
 his last throw ; for all at once, as it seemed, 
 and almost in one motion, he thrust and 
 wounded the Bishop in the left side of his 
 body, high in the chest near the shoulder, 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein* 165 
 
 and, though the wound was slight, the blood 
 flowed freely ; then drawing back his sword, 
 he seized it by the blade half-way up and 
 flung it like a javelin at the Princess, who 
 stood still by the door, breathlessly watch- 
 ing the fight. By an ace it missed her 
 head, and it pinned a tress of her hair to the 
 door and quivered deep-set in the wood of 
 the door. When the Bishop of Modenstein 
 saw this, hesitation and mercy passed out 
 of his heart, and though the man had now 
 no weapon, he thought of sparing him no 
 more than he would have spared any cruel 
 and savage beast, but he drove his sword 
 into his body, and the Count, not being able 
 to endure the thrust without flinching, 
 against his own will gave back before it. 
 Then came from his lips a loud cry of dis- 
 may and despair ; for at the same moment 
 that the sword was in him he, staggering 
 back, fell wounded to death through the open 
 window. The Bishop looked out after him, 
 and Princess Osra heard the sound of a 
 great splash in the water of the moat be- 
 low ; for very horror she sank against the 
 door, seeming to be held up more by the 
 sword that had pinned her hair than by 
 her own strength. Then came up through 
 the window, from which the Bishop still 
 
1 66 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 looked with a strange smile, the clatter of 
 a hundred feet, running to the gate of the 
 Castle. The bridge was let down ; the con- 
 fused sound of many men talking, of whis- 
 pers, of shouts, and of cries of horror, 
 mounted up through the air. For the 
 Count's men in the hall also had heard the 
 splash, and run out to see what it was, 
 and there they beheld the body of their 
 master, dead in the^moat; their eyes were 
 wide open, and they could hardly lay their 
 tongues to the words as they pointed to 
 the body and whispered to one another, 
 very low : " The Bishop has killed him 
 the Bishop has killed him." But the Bishop 
 saw them from the window, and leant out, 
 crying : 
 
 "Yes, I have killed him. So perish all 
 such villains ! " 
 
 When they looked up, and saw in the 
 moonlight the Bishop's face, they were 
 amazed. But he hastily drew his head in, 
 so that they might not see him any more. 
 For he knew that his face had been fierce, 
 and exultant, and joyful. Then, dropping 
 his sword, he ran across to the Princess ; 
 he drew the Count's sword, which was wet 
 with his own blood, out of the door, releas- 
 ing the Princess's hair ; and, seeing that 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein. 167 
 
 she was very faint, he put his arm about 
 her, and led hereto the couch ; she sank 
 upon it, trembling and white as her white 
 gown, and murmuring : " Fearful, fearful ! " 
 and she clutched his arm, and for a long 
 while she would not let him go ; and her 
 eyes were fixed on the Count's sword that 
 lay on the floor by the entrance of the little 
 room. 
 
 " Courage, madame," said the Bishop 
 softly. " All danger is past. The villain is 
 dead, and you are with the most devoted of 
 your servants." 
 
 " Yes, yes," she said, and pressed his arm 
 and shivered. " Is he really dead ?" 
 
 " He is dead. God have mercy on him," 
 said the Bishop. 
 
 " And you killed him?" 
 
 " I killed him. If it were a sin, pray 
 God forgive me ! " 
 
 Up through the window still came the 
 noise of voices and the stir of men moving ; 
 for they were recovering the body of the 
 Count from the moat ; yet neither Osra 
 nor the Bishop noticed any longer what was 
 passing ; he was intent on her, and she 
 seemed hardly yet herself ; but suddenly, 
 before he could interpose, she threw her- 
 self off the couch and on to her knees 
 
i68 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 in front of him, and, seizing hold of his 
 hand, she kissed first the episcopal ring 
 that he wore and then his hand. For he 
 was both Bishop and a gallant gentleman, 
 and a kiss she gave him for each ; and after 
 she had kissed his hand, she held it in both 
 of hers as though for safety's sake she 
 clung to it. But he raised her hastily, cry- 
 ing to her not to kneel before him, and, 
 throwing away his hat, he knelt before her, 
 kissing her hands many times. She seemed 
 now recovered from her bewilderment and 
 terror ; for as she looked down on him 
 kneeling, she was half-way between tears 
 and smiles, and with curving lips but wet 
 shining eyes, she said very softly : 
 
 "Ah, my lord, who made a bishop of 
 you?" And her cheeks grew in an instant 
 from dead white into sudden red, and her 
 hand moved over his head as if she would 
 fain have touched him with it. And she 
 bent down ever so little towards him. Yet, 
 perhaps, it was nothing ; any lady, who had 
 seen how he bore himself, and knew that 
 it was in her cause, for her honour and life, 
 might well have done the same. 
 
 The Bishop of Modenstein made no im- 
 mediate answer ; his head was still bowed 
 over her hand, and after a while he kissed 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein. 169 
 
 her hand again ; and he felt her hand press 
 his. Then, suddenly, as though in alarm, 
 she drew her hand away, and he let it go 
 easily. Then he raised his eyes and met 
 the glance of hers, and he smiled ; and 
 Osra also smiled. For an instant they 
 were thus. Then the Bishop rose to his 
 feet, and he stood before her with bent 
 head and eyes that sought the ground in 
 becoming humility. 
 
 " It is by God's infinite goodness and 
 divine permission that I hold my sacred 
 office." said he. " I would that I were 
 more worthy of it ! But to-day I have 
 taken pleasure in the killing of a man." 
 
 "And in the saving of a lady, sir," she 
 added softly, "who will ever count you 
 among her dearest friends and the most 
 gallant of her defenders. Is God angry at 
 such a deed as that ? " 
 
 " May He forgive us all our sins," said 
 the Bishop gravely ; but what other sins he 
 had in his mind he did not say, nor did the 
 Princess ask him. 
 
 Then he gave her his arm, and they two 
 walked together down the stairs into the 
 hall ; the Bishop, having forgotten both his 
 hat and his sword, was bare-headed and 
 had no weapon in his hand. The Count's 
 
170 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 men were all collected in the hall, being 
 crowded round a table that stood by the 
 wall ; for on the table lay the body of Count 
 Nikolas of Festenburg, and it was covered 
 with a horse-cloth that one of the servants 
 had thrown over it. But when the men 
 saw the Princess and the Bishop, they made 
 way for them and stood aside, bowing low 
 as they passed. 
 
 " You bow now," said Osra, " but, be- 
 fore, none of you would lift a finger for me. 
 To my lord the Bishop alone do I owe my 
 life ; and he is a Churchman, while you were 
 free to fight for me. For my part, I do not 
 envy your wives such husbands ; " and with 
 a most scornful air she passed between 
 their ranks, taking great and ostentatious 
 care not to touch one of them even with the 
 hem of her gown. At this they grew red 
 and shuffled on their feet ; and one or two 
 swore under their breath, and thanked God 
 their wives were not such shrews, being 
 indeed very much ashamed of themselves, 
 and very uneasy at thinking what these 
 same wives of theirs would say to them 
 when the thing came to be known. But 
 Osra and the Bishop passed over the 
 bridge, and he set her on his horse The 
 summer morning had just dawned, clear and 
 
HE WALKED WITH HIS HEAD DOWN AND HIS EYES ON THE GROUND." Page I? I. 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein* 171 
 
 fair, so that the sun caught her ruddy hair 
 as she mounted in her white gown. But 
 the Bishop took the bridle of the horse and 
 led it at a foot's pace down the hill and 
 into the town. 
 
 Now by this time the news of what had 
 chanced had run all through the town, and 
 the people were out in the streets, gossip- 
 ing and guessing. And when they saw the 
 Princess Osra safe and sound and smiling, 
 and the Bishop in his shirt for he had 
 given his cloak to her leading the horse, 
 they broke into great cheering. The men 
 cheered the Princess, while the women 
 thrust themselves to the front rank of the 
 crowd, and blessed the Bishop of Moden- 
 stein. But he walked with his head down 
 and his eyes on the ground, and would not 
 look up, even when the women cried out in 
 great fear and admiration on seeing that 
 his shirt was stained with his blood and 
 with the blood of Nikolas of Festenburg 
 that had spurted out upon it. But one 
 thing the Princess heard, which sent her 
 cheeks red again ; for a buxom girl glanced 
 merrily at her, and made bold to say in 
 a tone that the Princess could not but 
 hear : 
 
 " By the Saints, here's waste ! If he 
 
172 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 were not a Churchman, now ! " And her 
 laughing eye travelled from the Princess to 
 him, and back to the Princess again. 
 
 4< Shall we go a little faster?" whispered 
 Osra, bending down to the Bishop. But 
 the girl only thought that she whispered 
 something else, and laughed the more. 
 
 At last they passed the town, and with 
 a great crowd still following them, came 
 to the Castle. At the gate of it the Bishop 
 stopped and aided the Princess to alight. 
 Again he knelt and kissed her hand, say- 
 ing only : 
 
 " Madame, farewell !" 
 
 " Farewell, my lord," said Osra softly ; 
 and she went hastily into the Castle, while 
 the Bishop returned to his inn in the town, 
 and though the people stood round the 
 inn the best part of the day, calling and 
 watching for him, he would not shew him- 
 self. 
 
 In the evening of that day the King, 
 having heard the tidings of the crime of 
 Count Nikolas, came in furious haste with 
 a troop of horse from Strelsau. And when 
 he heard how Osra had played at dice with 
 the Count, and staking herself against the 
 Castle of Zenda had won it back, he was 
 ashamed, and swore an oath that he would 
 
The Sin of the Bishop of Modenstein. 173 
 
 play dice no more, which oath he faithfully 
 observed. But in the morning of the next 
 day he went to Festenburg, where he 
 flogged soundly every man who had not 
 run away before his coming ; and all the 
 possessions of Count Nikolas he confis- 
 cated, and he pulled down the Castle of 
 Festenburg, and filled up the moat that had 
 run round its walls. 
 
 Then he sent for the Bishop of Moden- 
 stein, and thanked him, offering to him all 
 the demesne of Count Nikolas ; but the 
 Bishop would not accept it, nor any mark 
 of the King's favour, not even the Order of 
 the Red Rose. Therefore the King granted 
 the ground on which the Castle stood, 
 and all the lands belonging to it, to Francis 
 of Tarlenheim, brother-in-law to the wife of 
 Prince Henry, who built the ckdteau which 
 now stands there and belongs to the same 
 family to this day. 
 
 But the Bishop of Modenstein, having 
 been entertained by the King with great 
 splendour for two days, would not stay 
 longer, but set out to pursue his journey, 
 clad now in his ecclesiastical garments. 
 And Princess Osra sat by her window, lean- 
 ing her head on her hand, and watching him 
 till the trees of the forest hid him ; and once, 
 
174 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 when he was on the edge of the forest, 
 he turned his face for an instant, and 
 looked back at her where she sat watching 
 in the window. Thus he went to Strelsau ; 
 and when he was come there, he sent im- 
 mediately for his confessor, and the con- 
 fessor, having heard him, laid upon him a 
 severe penance, which he performed with 
 great zeal, exactness, and contrition. But 
 whether the penance were for killing Count 
 Nikolas of Festenburg (which in a layman, 
 at least, would have seemed but a venial 
 sin) or for what else, who shall say ? 
 
CHAPTER VL 
 The Device of Giraldo the Painter* 
 
 WHEN the twenty-first birthday of the 
 Princess Osra approached, her brother 
 King Rudolf, desiring to make her a pres- 
 ent, summoned from his home at Verona, 
 in Italy, a painter of very high fame, by 
 name Giraldo, and commanded him to paint 
 a portrait of the Princess, to be her brother's 
 gift to her. This command Giraldo carried 
 out, the Princess giving him every oppor- 
 tunity of studying her features and grudg- 
 ing no time that was spent by her in front 
 of his easel ; and the picture, when finished, 
 being pronounced to be as faithful as 
 beautiful the reputation of Giraldo was 
 greatly enhanced by the painting of it. 
 Thus it followed that in many cases, when 
 foreign Princes had heard the widespread 
 praises of Osra's beauty, they sent orders 
 to Giraldo to execute for them, and despatch 
 with all speed, miniatures or other portraits 
 of the Princess, that they might judge for 
 
176 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 themselves whether she were in truth as 
 lovely as report said ; and they sent Giraldo 
 large sums of money in recompense, adding 
 not seldom some further donation on the 
 express term and condition that Giraldo 
 should observe absolute fidelity in his 
 representation and not permit himself the 
 least flattery. For some desired them- 
 selves to court her, and others intended 
 their sons to ask her hand, if the evidence 
 of Giraldo's portraits satisfied their hopes. 
 So Giraldo, although but two or three 
 years above thirty, grew in both fame and 
 wealth, and was very often indebted to the 
 Princess for the favour of a visit to his 
 house, that he might again correct his 
 memory of her face. 
 
 Now what several Princes had done be- 
 fore, it chanced that the King of Glotten- 
 berg also did ; and Giraldo, to all appear- 
 ance much pleased, accepted the command, 
 and prayed the Princess to visit him ; for, 
 he said, this picture was to be larger and 
 more elaborate than the rest, and therefore 
 needed more study of her. So the Princess 
 went many times, and the portrait destined 
 for the King of Glottenberg (who was said 
 to be seeking a suitable alliance for his 
 eldest son) grew before her eyes into the 
 
The Device of Giraldo the Painter. 177 
 
 most perfect and beautiful presentment of 
 her which the skill of Giraldo had ever 
 accomplished, surpassing even that first pic- 
 ture which he had painted by King Rudolfs 
 command. The King made no doubt that, 
 so soon as the picture had reached the Court 
 of Glottenberg, an embassy would come 
 from there to demand the hand of his 
 sister for the Crown Prince, a proposal 
 which he would have received with much 
 pleasure and gratification. 
 
 " I do not think," said Osra, tossing her 
 head, " that any such embassy will come, 
 sire. For four or five pictures have been al- 
 ready painted by Signor Giraldo in like man- 
 ner, but no embassies have come. It seems 
 that my poor features do not find approval 
 in the Courts of Europe." 
 
 Her tone, it must be confessed, was full 
 of contempt. For the Princess Osra knew 
 that she was beautiful, as indeed all beauti- 
 ful ladies are, by the benevolence of 
 heaven, permitted to know. How much 
 greater mischief might they work, if such 
 knowledge were denied them ! 
 
 " That's true enough," cried Rudolf. 
 " And I do not understand the meaning of it. 
 But it will not be so at Glottenberg. For 
 my good brother the King has eyes in his 
 
1 78 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 head, and his son sees no less well. I met 
 them on my travels, and I can speak to 
 it. Most certainly an embassy will come 
 from Glottenberg before we are a month 
 older!" 
 
 Yet, strange to say, the same thing fol- 
 lowed on the despatch of the portrait 
 (which Giraldo sent by a certain trusty 
 messenger, whom he was accustomed to 
 employ) as had happened before ; no em- 
 bassy came, and the King of Glottenberg 
 excused himself from paying a visit to Strel- 
 sau, which he and his son had promised on 
 the invitation of King Rudolf. Therefore 
 Rudolf was very vexed, and Osra also, 
 thinking herself scorned, was very sore at 
 heart, although she bore herself more 
 proudly than before. But, being very 
 greatly disturbed in her mind concerning 
 her beauty, she went herself again to 
 Giraldo and charged him to paint her once 
 more. 
 
 "This picture," she said, "is for my own 
 eyes, and mine alone. Therefore, signer, 
 paint it faithfully, and spare me not. For 
 if a woman be ugly, it is well she should 
 know it, and it seems that nobody in the 
 kingdom will tell me the truth, although I 
 get hints enough of it from abroad," And 
 
The Device of Giraldo the Painter* 179 
 
 she frowned and flushed and was very sadly 
 out of temper, as any beautiful lady would 
 most naturally be in such a case. 
 
 Giraldo bowed very low, seeking to hide 
 the sudden red that dyed his cheek, and to 
 conceal the great joy which the command 
 of the Princess gave him. For by reason 
 of having painted the Princess so often, of 
 having studied her face so curiously, and of 
 having spent so much time in her company, 
 listening to her conversation, and enjoying 
 her wit and grace, this hapless young man 
 had become so deeply and desperately her 
 lover, that he no longer cared to use his 
 brush in the service of any other lady or 
 lord, but stayed at Strelsau solely that he 
 might again and again depict the face that 
 he loved ; and, save when she sat before 
 him, he seemed now unable to ply his art at 
 all, and had he not received so many com- 
 mands for pictures of her, he would have sat 
 all day long idle, thinking of her; which, 
 indeed, was what he did in the intervals 
 between his labour on her portraits. But 
 she, not imagining such presumption and 
 folly on his part, thought that he was glad 
 merely because she would pay him well ; 
 so she promised him more and more, if he 
 would but paint her faithfully. And he gave 
 
180 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 her his word that he would paint her in 
 every respect most faithfully. 
 
 " I desire to know," said she, "what I 
 am in truth like ; for my mirror says one 
 thing, and the King of Glottenberg ' 
 
 But here she stopped, remembering that 
 such matters were not fit for Giraldo's ears. 
 Yet he must have understood, for a strange, 
 cunning, exultant smile came on his lips as 
 he turned away and set himself to mix 
 the colours on his palette. Thus he began 
 this last picture and the Princess came 
 every day and stayed long, so that Gir- 
 aldo might be able to render her likeness 
 in every most minute respect with perfect 
 fidelity. 
 
 "For," she thought resentfully, " either 
 I have no eyes, or they have none in Glot- 
 tenberg." 
 
 When she had been visiting Giraldo thus 
 for hard on a month, and the picture was 
 nearly finished, and was at once the most 
 lovely and the most faithful of all that 
 Giraldo had painted, it chanced that letters 
 came to the King from a nobleman of 
 France who was well known to him, and 
 had known the Princess well also, the Mar- 
 quis de Merosailles. And the Marquis 
 wrote to the King in the greatest indigna- 
 
The Device of Giraldo the Painter. 181 
 
 tion and scorn, upbraiding the King and 
 saying : 
 
 " What is this, sire ? Do you keep a 
 madman at your Court, and call him a 
 painter ? I have been at Glottenberg ; and 
 when I spoke there, as it is my humble 
 duty and true delight to speak every- 
 where, of the incomparable beauty of your 
 Majesty's sister the Princess Osra, the 
 King, his son, and all the company, did 
 nothing but laugh. I fought three duels 
 with gentlemen of the Court on this ac- 
 count, and two of them I, heaven helping 
 me, wounded, and one, by some devil's 
 trick, wounded me. After this, the matter 
 coming to the King's ear, he sent for me, 
 and excused the laughter by showing me a 
 picture done by a rascal called Giraldo at 
 your Court, the picture was named after 
 your Majesty's most matchless sister ; but, 
 as I am a true son of the Church, it was 
 like the devil's daughter, and, on my 
 honour and conscience, it squinted most 
 villainously. I pray you, sire, find out 
 the meaning of this thing ; and receive 
 most humble duty and homage from your 
 devoted sj^arjt, and, since your gracious- 
 ness so wills it, most obftged and obedient 
 friend, Henri Marquis de Merosailles. I 
 kiss the hand of the Princess." 
 
1 82 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 When King Rudolf had read this letter, 
 he grew very thoughtful, and, unknown to 
 Giraldo, he sent and caught the messenger 
 whom Giraldo was wont to entrust with the 
 pictures, and who carried the picture of 
 which M. de Merosailles wrote to Glotten- 
 berg ; and the King interrogated the messen- 
 ger most closely, but got nothing from 
 him, save that he himself never beheld the 
 pictures which he carried, but received 
 them most carefully packed from Giraldo, 
 and so delivered them without undoing the 
 coverings, and then by Giraldo's strict 
 orders returned at once, and did not wait 
 until the recipient had inspected the picture. 
 So that the fellow did not know anything 
 about the picture that had gone to Glotten- 
 berg, except that it was certainly the same 
 as Giraldo had entrusted to his hands. 
 But the King was not satisfied, and, learn- 
 ing that his sister was at that moment at 
 Giraldo's house, being painted afresh by 
 him, he called half-a-dozen of his gentle- 
 men, and set out on horseback for the place 
 where Giraldo lived in the street that runs 
 from the Cathedral towards the western 
 gate of Strelsau. To this day the house 
 stands there. 
 
 The Princess sat and Giraldo painted. 
 
The Device of Giraldo the Painter* 183 
 
 Behind the Princess was a window, looking 
 on to the street, and behind Giraldo was a 
 second door, which led into an inner room. 
 On Giraldo's easel stood the nearly finished 
 picture ; Giraldo's eyes were alight both 
 with love and with triumph, as he turned 
 from the Princess to the picture, and from 
 the picture to the Princess again ; and she, 
 seeing something of his admiration, said 
 with a blush : 
 
 "Is it indeed faithful, signer?" For it 
 seemed even to herself a marvellously lovely 
 picture. 
 
 " No, madame," answered he. " For my 
 imperfect hand cannot be faithful to per- 
 fection." 
 
 " I pray you, do not flatter me. Have 
 you indeed shewn every fault of my face ? " 
 
 " If there be a fault in your face, 
 madame, there it is also in my picture," said 
 Giraldo. 
 
 The Princess was silent for a moment, 
 then she said : 
 
 " It is better, is it not, than the picture 
 you painted for the King of Glotten- 
 berg?" 
 
 Giraldo painted a stroke or two before he 
 answered carelessly : 
 
 " Indeed, madame, it is more faithful 
 
184 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 than that which the King of Glottenberg 
 has." 
 
 " Then less beautiful ? " asked Osra with 
 a petulant smile. 
 
 " Nay, I do not say that ; not less beauti- 
 ful," he answered. 
 
 " Perhaps he would like this one better, 
 and give me his in exchange ; for I never 
 saw his after it was finished. I think I will 
 ask the King to write to him." 
 
 Giraldo had turned round suddenly as the 
 Princess made this suggestion ; she had 
 spoken half in sport, half in continuing 
 chagrin at the blindness shewn by the Court 
 of Glottenberg. Now he stood staring at 
 her with wide-open alarmed eyes ; and he 
 dropped his brushes on to the floor. 
 
 " What ails you, signor ? " she cried. " I 
 did but suggest exchanging the pictures." 
 
 He tried to regain his composure, as he 
 stooped to pick up his brushes. 
 
 " The King of Glottenberg's picture is 
 the best for him to have," said he sullenly. 
 ' This one, madame, I painted for you 
 yourself, and for you alone." 
 
 " I pay the price and can do what I will 
 with the picture," returned the Princess 
 haughtily. " If I desire, I will give it to 
 the King of Glottenberg." 
 
The Device of Giraldo the Painter. 185 
 
 Giraldo had now turned very pale, and, 
 forgetful of the picture, stood gazing fixedly 
 at the Princess. For he could no longer 
 hold down in secrecy and silence the passion 
 that possessed him, but it was declared in 
 his eyes and in the trembling of his limbs ; 
 so that the Princess rose from her chair 
 and shrank away from him in alarm, re- 
 gretting that she had dismissed her ladies, 
 in order to be less restrained in talk with 
 the painter ; and she tried to cry out, that 
 they might hear her where they were in an 
 adjoining room, but her cry froze on her 
 lips at the sight of Giraldo's passion. And 
 he cried in a hoarse whisper: 
 
 " He shall not have the picture, he shall 
 not have it ! " As he spoke he moved 
 nearer to the Princess, who still shrank 
 away from him, being now in very great 
 alarm, and thinking that surely he had run 
 mad. Yet she looked at him, and, looking, 
 saw whence his madness came ; and she 
 felt pity for him, and held out her clasped 
 hands towards him, saying in a very soft 
 voice, and with eyes that grew sad and 
 tender : 
 
 " Ah, signor, signor, am I always to 
 have lovers, and never a friend ? " 
 
 At this the unfortunate painter was over- 
 
1 86 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 come, and dropping his head between his 
 hands he gave a deep half-stifled sob, and 
 then he cried : 
 
 " God's curse on me, for having slan- 
 dered the beauty that I love ! " And then 
 he sobbed again. 
 
 But the Princess wondered greatly what 
 he meant by his strange cry, and turned 
 her eyes again on him in bewildered ques- 
 tioning ; saying, as she pointed to the 
 picture : 
 
 " There is no slander here, signor, unless 
 too much praise be slander." 
 
 Giraldo made her no answer in words, but, 
 springing towards her, caught her .by the 
 wrist, and drew her across the room to the 
 door behind his easel. With feverish haste 
 he unlocked it and passed through. The 
 Princess, although now free from his grip, 
 followed him in a strange fascination. 
 Giraldo drew the door close behind him ; 
 and at that moment the Princess gave a cry, 
 half a scream, half laughter. For facing 
 her she saw, each on its easel, three, four, 
 five, six pictures of herself, each beautiful 
 and painted most lovingly ; and the last of 
 the six was the picture that had been 
 painted by order of the King of Glotten- 
 berg. For she knew it by the attire, 
 
The Device of Giraldo the Painter. 187 
 
 although the face had not been finished 
 when she had last seen it. A sudden en- 
 lightenment pierced her mind, and she knew 
 that Giraldo had not sent the pictures for 
 which she had sat to him, but kept them 
 himself, and sent others to his patrons. 
 This strange conviction found its sure con- 
 firmation in a seventh easel which stood 
 apart from the rest, on the other side of the 
 room ; for it supported what was in all 
 respects a copy of the portrait on which 
 Giraldo was now engaged, save that by 
 cunning touches he had imparted to the 
 face an alien and fearful aspect ; for here, 
 although the features had their shape and 
 perfect grace, yet it was the face of a devil 
 that looked out of the canvas, a face that a 
 man would not have gazing at him from the 
 wall on to the bed where he sought to sleep. 
 
 But when Giraldo saw her eyes fixed on 
 this picture, he cried : 
 
 " That is for you the other is mine. 
 Are they not your features ? The King of 
 Glottenberg should not have even your 
 features. But you shall have them, and if a 
 devil looks out through such a fair mask, is 
 it not so with all fair women that lead men 
 to destruction ? There is your true picture, 
 Princess Osra ! " And he flung himself on 
 
1 88 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 a couch with a mad cry of rage, and then a 
 groan of despair. 
 
 The Princess Osra looked at him, and at 
 the beautiful pictures, and then at the pic- 
 ture that was like her and yet like a devil. 
 First she pitied the painter, and then mar- 
 velled at the wonderful mad skill, which so 
 transformed her without drawing a line that 
 could be called untrue. Thus thinking, she 
 stood for a while, grave and puzzled. But 
 then the humour struck her, as it struck 
 her House always in great things and in 
 small ; it seemed to her most ludicrous that 
 the pictures should all be resting here in 
 Giraldo's house, while the Princes who 
 had commanded portraits of her had re- 
 ceived nothing but distorted parodies of her 
 face, to the end that they might be dis- 
 gusted and, abandoning the alliance they 
 had projected, leave her still at Strelsau, to 
 be painted times out of number and most 
 fruitlessly by this mad painter. And these 
 thoughts gaining the mastery over the 
 others, in spite of the sad plight of unhappy 
 Signor Giraldo, her lips curved into a bow, 
 her eyes gleamed in dancing merriment, 
 and a moment later she broke into a glad 
 gleeful laugh, that rose and rippled, and fell 
 to soft delighted murmurings. As she 
 
The Device of Giraldo the Painter. 189 
 
 looked again at the picture that was like her 
 and also like a devil, her mirth grew and 
 grew at the ingenuity of the work and the 
 mocking devilry so cunningly made out of 
 her face. Small wonder was it to her now 
 that the embassies had not come. 
 
 The Princess Osra thus stood laughing, 
 and presently Signor Giraldo looked up. 
 When he had listened and looked for a few 
 moments, his wild mood caught the infec- 
 tion from her, so that, springing to his feet, 
 he also began to laugh loudly, like a man 
 who cannot restrain his amusement, but is 
 carried away by it beyond all bounds and 
 restraints. Thus Giraldo laughed loudly, 
 long, and fiercely ; for there was madness 
 in his laugh. And the Princess heard the 
 madness ; even while she still laughed, her 
 eyes opened in wonder ; alarm came on her 
 face, her merry laugh quivered, trembled, 
 choked in her throat, and at last died away 
 into dumbness ; yet her lips hung apart 
 frozen in the shape of laughter, while no 
 laughter came. But as her laugh thus 
 ended in mute horror, his grew louder yet 
 and wilder, and its peal rang through the 
 room, as he gasped between his spasms of 
 horrid mirth, " You, you, you ! " and pointed 
 at the picture which he had touched to devil- 
 
190 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 ishness. But she shrank away, and stood 
 crouched against the wall ; for she knew 
 now that he was mad, but did not know to 
 what his fury might next lead him. Then 
 he caught up a knife that lay on the sill of 
 the window, and, now smiling as though in 
 grim quiet amusement, strode across to the 
 row of pictures, and reached up to them, 
 knife in hand. But Osra suddenly sprang 
 forward, crying : 
 
 " Do not hurt them." 
 
 " These ? " he asked, turning to her with 
 a sneer. " These? I'll destroy them all, 
 for they are no longer beautiful to me, but 
 that one only is beautiful, because it is 
 true." And he wrenched his arm away 
 from the detaining hand she had laid upon 
 it. Falling back in terror, she watched him 
 cutting and slashing each of the pictures, 
 until the face was utterly destroyed. And 
 she feared that when he had finished with 
 the pictures, he would turn upon her ; there- 
 fore she flung herself on the couch, hiding 
 her face for fear of some horrible fate ; 
 she murmured low to herself, " Not my 
 face, O God, not my face ! " and she pressed 
 her face down into the cushions of the 
 couch, while he, muttering and grumbling 
 to himself, cut the pictures into strips and 
 
The Device of Giraldo the Painter* 191 
 
 ribbons, and strewed the fragments at his 
 feet on the floor. This done, he turned to 
 the devil's face that he loved, and poured out 
 to it, as though it had been a cruel idol he 
 worshipped, a flood of wild passionate re- 
 proachful words, that Osra shivered to hear, 
 and the purport of which she dared tell 
 none, though for all her prayers she could 
 not herself forget one of them. 
 
 At last he came to her again, and plucked 
 her roughly and rudely from the couch 
 where she lay, and dragged her behind him 
 back to the door again and through it ; and 
 they stood together in front of the last pic- 
 ture, whose paint was still wet from his 
 hand. The painted face smiled down on 
 the trembling pale girl with its smile of 
 careless serene dignity, so that now even 
 to herself it seemed hardly to be her pic- 
 ture. For it was the true presentment of 
 a King's daughter, and she no better than 
 a helpless frightened girl. It seemed to 
 reproach her ; and suddenly she drew herself 
 to her height, and turned on Giraldo, say- 
 ing : "You shall not touch it." 
 
 She stept forward, so that she stood be- 
 tween him and the picture, raising her hand, 
 and forbidding him to approach it with his 
 knife. And now the picture seemed more 
 
192 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 to be hers, although while it smiled she 
 frowned. 
 
 But at this moment there came through 
 the window that opened on the street the 
 clatter of horses' hoofs. At the sound 
 Giraldo arrested the motion that he had 
 already made to fling himself on the Prin- 
 cess ; whether to kill her, or only to thrust 
 her away from in front of the picture she 
 did not know. Running to the window, he 
 looked out, and called in seeming glee : " It 
 is the King come to see my pictures ! " 
 And he looked proud and happy. Going 
 to the door of the room, he flung it open, 
 and stood there waiting for the King and 
 the gentlemen who attended the King. 
 They were not long in coming, for Rudolf 
 was full of anger, impatience, and curiosity, 
 and ran swiftly up the staircase. His gen- 
 tlemen pressed into the room behind him, 
 and Giraldo drew back, keeping his face to 
 the King and bowing again and again. But 
 the King and the rest saw the knife in his 
 hand ; and ragged strips of painted canvas 
 hung here and there on his clothes, while 
 the Princess, pale and proud, stood guard- 
 ing the picture on the easel. The King, in 
 spite of his wonder, was not turned from 
 the purpose which had brought him to the 
 
The Device of Giraldo the Painter. 193 
 
 painter's house, but with a quick step 
 darted up to Giraldo and thrust the letter 
 of the Marquis de Merosailles into his hand, 
 bidding him in a sharp peremptory tone to 
 read it and give what explanation he could 
 of the contents. Giraldo fell to reading it, 
 while the King turned to his sister in order 
 to ask her why she seemed agitated, and 
 stood so obstinately in front of her own 
 picture ; but at that instant one of the gen- 
 tlemen, whose name was Ladislas, gave a cry 
 of surprise ; for he had looked through the 
 door into the inner room, and seen the 
 havoc and destruction that Giraldo had 
 made, and also the strange and terrible 
 picture which alone had escaped the knife. 
 The King, wondering, followed Ladislas to 
 the threshold of the inner room and passed 
 it, while his gentlemen, full of curiosity, 
 crowded close on his heels after him. 
 
 The Princess Osra, thinking herself safe, 
 found her anger and terror pass away as 
 her mirth had passed before. Now she felt 
 in her heart that pity which borders on 
 tenderness, and which she could never re- 
 fuse to a man who loved her, let the folly 
 of his love and of the extravagances into 
 which it drove him be as great as it would. 
 Turning towards Giraldo, she saw him fret- 
 
194 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 ting his puckered brow with his hand, and 
 vainly seeking to compel his disordered 
 brain to understand M. de Merosailles' let- 
 ter. So she was very sorry for him, and, 
 knowing the sudden hot temper to which the 
 careless King was subject, she glided swiftly 
 across to the painter, and whispered: " Es- 
 cape and hide. Hide for a few days. He 
 will be furious now, but he will soon for- 
 
 et. Don't wait now, but escape, signor. 
 ome harm will happen to you here ; " and 
 in her eager pleading with him she laid 
 her hand on his arm, and looked up in his 
 face with imploring eyes. But he looked 
 at her with dazed vacant stare, muttering, 
 " I cannot read the letter ; " then a wistful 
 smile came on his face, and he thrust the 
 letter towards her, saying: "Madame, will 
 you read it for me ? " And at that moment 
 they heard the King swear an angry oath ; 
 for he had seen the mad picture of his 
 sister. 
 
 " No, no, not now," whispered Osra, be- 
 seeching Giraldo. " Not now, signor. 
 Listen, the King is angry ! Escape now, 
 and we will read the letter afterwards." 
 She was as earnest as though she had 
 loved him and were praying him to save 
 himself for the sake of her love. 
 
The Device of Giraldo the Painter* 195 
 
 Giraldo looked into her softened eyes ; 
 suddenly giving a little cry, as if a great 
 joy had come to him unexpectedly and 
 contrary to all likelihood, he dropped M. de 
 Merosailles' letter, and sprang to where his 
 brushes lay on the floor ; seizing them and 
 his palette, he gave another swift glance at 
 the Princess, and then, turning to the pic- 
 ture, began to paint with marvellous dexter- 
 ity and deftness and with the sudden confi- 
 dence of a man inspired to the work. As 
 he worked, his brow grew smoother, the 
 tension of his strained face relaxed, happi- 
 ness dawned in his eyes, and a smile broke 
 on his lips ; and Osra watched him with a 
 tender sorrowful gaze. Still he painted, and 
 he was painting when the King burst in 
 from the other room in a great rage, 
 carrying his sword drawn in his hand ; for 
 he had sworn by Our Lady and St. Peter to 
 kill the rogue who had done the Princess 
 such wrong and so slandered her beauty. 
 And his gentlemen came in with him, all 
 very ready to see Giraldo killed, but each 
 eager that the King should leave the task 
 to him. Yet when they entered and saw 
 Giraldo painting as though he were rapt by 
 some ecstasy and had forgotten all that had 
 passed, nay, even their very presence, they 
 
196 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 paused in unwilling and constrained hesita- 
 tion. Osra raised her hand to bid them 
 stay still where they were, and not interfere 
 with Giraldo's painting. For now she de- 
 sired above all things on earth that he 
 should be left to finish his task. For he 
 thought that he had read more than pity 
 and more than tenderness in Osra's eyes ; 
 he had seemed to see love there, and thus 
 he had cried out in joy, and thus he was 
 now painting as never had even he, for all 
 his skill, painted before. His unerring 
 hand, moving lightly to and fro, imparted 
 the sweetness of his delusive vision to the 
 canvas, so that the eyes of the portrait 
 glowed with wonderful and beautiful love 
 and gentleness. Presently Giraldo began 
 to sing very softly to himself a sweet happy 
 old song, that peasants sang to peasant 
 girls in the fields outside his native Verona 
 on summer evenings. His head was thrown 
 back in triumph and exultation as he sang 
 and worked, tasting the luxury of love, and 
 glorying in the tribute that his genius paid 
 to her whom he loved. Thus came a mo- 
 ment of great joy to the soul of Giraldo 
 the painter ; for a man's love and a man's 
 work are, when they seem to prosper, of all 
 things the sweetest, and their union in one 
 his life's consummation. 
 
The Device of Giraldo the Painter. 197 
 
 It was done. He laid down the brush, 
 and drew back a step, looking at what he 
 had done. The Princess came softly and 
 slowly, as though attracted against her will, 
 and she stood by him ; for she saw that this 
 picture was now, beyond all compare, the 
 most perfect and beautiful of all that he or 
 any other man had painted of her ; and she 
 loved him for thus glorifying her. But, be- 
 fore many moments had gone by, a sudden 
 start and shiver ran through Giraldo's 
 body. The spell of his entranced ecstasy 
 broke ; his eyes fell from the masterpiece 
 that he had made, and wandered to those 
 who stood about him to the gentlemen 
 who did not know whether to wonder or to 
 laugh, to the angry face of the King and 
 the naked sword in his hand, at last to 
 Osra, whose eyes were still on the picture. 
 His exultation vanished, and with it went, 
 as it seemed to them, his madness. Reason 
 dawned for a moment in his eyes, but was 
 quenched in an instant by shame and de- 
 spair. For he knew that all there had seen 
 that other picture and knew now what he 
 had done ; and suddenly with a stifled cry 
 he flung himself full length on the floor at 
 Osra's feet. 
 
 " Let us wait," said she gently. " He 
 will be himself again soon." 
 
198 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 But the King was too angry to listen. 
 
 " He has made us fools before half 
 Europe," he cried angrily, " and he shall 
 not live to talk of it. And you have you 
 seen the picture yonder?" 
 
 "Yes, I have seen it," said she. " But he 
 does not now think that picture like me, but 
 this one." And she turned to the gentle- 
 men, and desired them to raise Giraldo and 
 lay him on a couch, and they obeyed. Then 
 she knelt by his head ; and, after a while he 
 opened his eyes, seeming sound of sense in 
 everything except that he believed she 
 loved him, so that he began to whisper to 
 her as lovers whisper to their loves, very 
 tenderly and low. And the King, with 
 his gentlemen, stood a little way off. But 
 the Princess said nothing to Giraldo, neither 
 refusing his love, nor yet saying what was 
 false ; yet she suffered him to talk to her, 
 and to reach up his hand and gently touch 
 a lock of hair that strayed on her forehead. 
 And he, sighing in utter happiness and con- 
 tentment, closed his eyes again, and lay 
 back very quietly on the couch. 
 
 " Let us go," said she rising. " I will 
 send a physician." And she bade one of 
 the gentlemen lock the inner room, and give 
 her the key, and she and the King and 
 
The Device of Giraldo the Painter* 199 
 
 they all then departed, and sent his ser- 
 vants to tend Giraldo ; and Osra caused the 
 King's physician also to be summoned. 
 But Giraldo did no more than linger some 
 few days alive ; for the most of them he 
 was in a high fever, his brain being wild ; 
 and he raved about the Princess, sometimes 
 railing at her, sometimes praising her ; yet 
 once or twice he awoke, calm and happy as 
 he had been when she knelt by him, and 
 having for his only delusion the thought 
 that she still knelt there and was breathing 
 words of love into his ear. And in this last 
 merciful error, in respect of which the 
 physicians humoured him, one day a week 
 later, he passed away and was at peace. 
 
 Then the Princess came, attended by one 
 gentleman in whom she placed confidence, 
 and she destroyed the evil picture that 
 Giraldo had painted, and having caused a 
 fire to be made, burnt up the pieces of it, and 
 all the ruins of the pictures that Giraldo had 
 destroyed. But that on which he had last 
 worked so happily, and with such a triumph 
 of art, she carried with her to the palace ; 
 and presently she caused copies to be made 
 of it, and sent one to each of the Princes by 
 whom Giraldo had been commanded to 
 paint her picture, and with it the money he 
 
2OO 
 
 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 had received, the whole of which was found 
 untouched in a cabinet in his house. But 
 the picture itself she hung in her own 
 chamber, and would often look at it, feel- 
 ing great sorrow for the fate of Giraldo the 
 painter. 
 
 Yet King Rudolf could not be prevailed 
 upon to pity the young man, saying that for 
 his part he should have to be mad before 
 the love of a woman should drive him mad ; 
 and he cursed Giraldo for an insolent knave, 
 declaring that he did well to die of his own 
 accord. And because M. de Merosailles 
 had gallantly defended his sister's beauty 
 in three duels, he sent him by the hand of 
 a high officer his Order of the Red Rose, 
 which M. de Mdrosailles wore with great 
 pride at the Court of Versailles. 
 
 But when the copies of the last picture 
 reached the Courts to which they were ad- 
 dressed, together with the money and a 
 brief history of Giraldo's mad doings, the 
 Princes turned their thoughts again to the 
 matter of the alliance, and several embas- 
 sies set out for Strelsau ; so that Princess 
 Osra said, with a smile that was half-sad, 
 half-amused, and very whimsical : 
 
 " I am much troubled by reason of the 
 loss of Signer Giraldo my painter." 
 
CHAPTER VIL 
 The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbati* 
 
 THERE is a swift little river running by 
 the village of Hofbau, and on the river is a 
 mill, kept in the days of King Rudolf III. 
 by a sturdy fellow who lived there all 
 alone ; the King knew him, having alighted 
 at his house for a draught of beer as he 
 rode hunting, and it was of him the King 
 spoke when he said to the Queen, "There 
 is, I believe, but one man in the country 
 whom Osra could not move, and he is 
 the Miller of Hofbau." But although he 
 addressed the Queen, it was his sister at 
 whom he aimed his speech. The Princess 
 herself was sitting by, and when she heard 
 the King she said : 
 
 " In truth I do not desire to move any 
 man. What but trouble comes of it? Yet 
 who is this miller ?" 
 
 The King told her where the miller might 
 be found, and he added: "If you convert 
 
202 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 him to the love of women you shall have 
 the finest bracelet in Strelsau." 
 
 " There is nothing, sire, so remote from 
 my thoughts or desires as to convert your 
 miller," said Osra scornfully. 
 
 In this, at the moment, she spoke truth- 
 fully ; but being left alone for some days 
 at the Castle of Zenda, which is but a few 
 miles from Hofbau, she found the time 
 hang very heavy on her hands ; indeed she 
 did not know what to do with herself for 
 weariness ; and for this reason, and none 
 other at all, one day she ordered her horse 
 and rode off with a single groom into the 
 forest. Coming, as the morning went on, to 
 a wide road, she asked the groom where it 
 led. " To Hofbau, madame," he answered. 
 " It is not more than a mile further on." 
 Osra waited a few moments, then she 
 said : " I will ride on and see the village, for 
 I' have been told that it is pretty. Wait 
 here till I return," and she rode on, smiling 
 a little, and with a delicate tint of colour in 
 her cheeks. 
 
 Before long she saw the river and the 
 mill on the river ; and, coming to the mill, 
 she saw the miller sitting before his door, 
 smoking a long pipe. She called out to 
 him, asking him to sell her a glass of milk. 
 
The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbau* 203 
 
 " You can have it for the asking," said 
 the miller. He was a good-looking fair fel- 
 low, and wore a scarlet cap. " There is a 
 pail of it just inside the door behind me." 
 Yet he did not rise, but lay there, lolling 
 luxuriously in the sun. For he did not 
 know Osra, never having been to Strelsau 
 in his life, and to Zenda three or four times 
 only, and that when the Princess was not 
 there. Moreover though this, as must be 
 allowed, is not to the purpose he had 
 sworn never again to go so far afield. 
 
 Being answered in this manner, and at 
 the same time desiring the milk, the Prin- 
 cess had no choice but to dismount. 
 
 This she did, and passed by the miller, 
 pausing a moment to look at him with bright 
 curious eyes, that flashed from under the 
 brim of her wide-rimmed feathered hat ; but 
 the miller blinked lazily up at the sun and 
 took no heed of her. 
 
 Osra passed on, found the pail, poured 
 out a cup of milk, and drank it. Then, re- 
 filling the cup, she carried it to the miller. 
 
 " Will you not have some ? " said she 
 with a smile. 
 
 " I was too lazy to get it," said the 
 miller ; and he held out his hand, but did 
 not otherwise change his position. 
 
204 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 Osra's brow puckered and her cheek 
 flushed as she bent down, holding the cup 
 of milk so that the miller could reach it. 
 He took and drained it, gave it back to her, 
 and put his pipe in his mouth again. Osra 
 sat down by him and watched him. He 
 puffed and blinked away, never so much as 
 looking at her. 
 
 " What have you for dinner?" asked 
 she presently. 
 
 11 A piece of cold pie," said he. " There's 
 enough for two, if you're hungry." 
 
 " Would you not like it better hot ?" 
 
 " Oh, aye ; but I cannot weary myself 
 with heating it." 
 
 "Til heat it," said the Princess; and, 
 rising, she went into the house, and made 
 up the fire, which was almost burnt out ; 
 then she heated the pie, and set the room 
 in order, and laid the table, and drew a 
 large jug of beer from the cask. Next she 
 placed an arm-chair ready for the miller, 
 and put the jug by it ; then she filled the 
 pipe from the bowl of tobacco and set a 
 cushion in the chair. All this while she 
 hummed a tune, and from time to time 
 smiled gayly. Lastly, she arranged a chair 
 by the elbow of the miller's chair ; then she 
 went out and told him that his dinner was 
 
HE TOOK IT AND DRAINED IT." Page 204. 
 
The Indifference of the Miller of Hoflbau. 205 
 
 ready ; and he stumbled to his feet with a 
 sigh of laziness, and walked before her into 
 the house. 
 
 " May I come ? " cried she. 
 
 " Aye, there is enough for two," said the 
 Miller of Hofbau without looking round. 
 
 So she followed him in. He sank into the 
 arm-chair and sat there, for a moment sur- 
 veying the room which was so neat, and 
 the table so daintily laid, and the pie so 
 steaming hot. And he sighed, saying : 
 
 " It was like this before poor mother 
 died." And he fell to on a great portion 
 of pie with which Osra piled his plate. 
 
 When he had finished eating which 
 thing did not happen for some time she 
 held the jug while he took a long draught ; 
 then she brought a coal in the tongs and 
 held it while he lit his pipe from it ; then 
 she sat down by him. For several moments 
 he puffed, and then at last he turned his 
 head and looked at Princess Osra; she 
 drooped her long lashes and cast down her 
 eyes ; next she lifted her eyes and glanced 
 for an instant at the miller ; and, finally, she 
 dropped her eyes again and murmured 
 shyly: "What is it, sir? Why do you 
 look at me ?" 
 
 "You seem to be a handy wench," ob- 
 
206 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 served the miller. " The pie was steaming 
 hot and yet not burnt, the beer was well 
 frothed but not shaken nor thickened, and 
 the pipe draws well. Where does your 
 father dwell?" 
 
 " He is dead, sir," said Princess Osra very 
 demurely. 
 
 "And your mother?" pursued the miller. 
 
 " She also is dead." 
 
 " There is small harm in that," said the 
 miller thoughtfully ; and Osra turned away 
 her head to hide her smile. 
 
 " Are you not very lonely, living here 
 all by yourself?" she asked a moment 
 later. 
 
 " Indeed I have to do everything for 
 myself," said the miller sadly. 
 
 " And there is nobody to to care for 
 you?" 
 
 " No, nor to look after my comfort," said 
 the miller. " Have you any kindred ?" 
 
 " I have two brothers, sir ; but they are 
 married now, and have no need of me." 
 
 The miller laid down his pipe and, set- 
 ting his elbow on the table, faced Princess 
 Osra. 
 
 " H'm ! " said he. " And is it likely you 
 will ride this way again ? " 
 
 " I may chance to do so," said Osra, 
 
The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbau. 207 
 
 and now there was a glance of malicious 
 triumph in her eyes ; she was thinking 
 already how the bracelet would look on her 
 arm. 
 
 " Ah ! " said the miller. And after a 
 pause he added : " If you do, come half an 
 hour before dinner, and you can lend a 
 hand in making it ready. Where did you 
 get those fine clothes ? " 
 
 " My mistress gave them to me," an- 
 swered Osra. " She has cast them off." 
 
 "And that horse you rode?" 
 
 " It is my master's ; I have it to ride 
 when I do my mistress's errands." 
 
 " Will your master and mistress do any- 
 thing for you if you leave your service ?" 
 
 " I have been promised a present if 
 said Osra, and she paused in apparent 
 confusion. 
 
 " Aye," said the miller, nodding saga- 
 ciously, as he rose slowly from the arm- 
 chair. " Will you be this way again in a 
 week or so ? " he asked. 
 
 " I think it is very likely," answered 
 the Princess Osra. 
 
 "Then look in," said the miller. " About 
 half an hour before dinner." He nodded 
 his head again very significantly at Osra, 
 and, turning away, went to his work, as a 
 
208 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 man goes who would far rather sit still in 
 the sun. But just as he reached the door 
 he turned his head and asked : " Are you 
 sturdy?" 
 
 " I am strong enough, I think," said she. 
 
 " A sack of flour is a heavy thing for a 
 man to lift by himself," remarked the 
 miller, and with that he passed through the 
 door and left her alone. 
 
 Then she cleared the table, put the pie 
 or what was left in the larder, set the 
 room in order, refilled the pipe, stood the 
 jug handy by the cask, and, with a look of 
 great satisfaction on her face, tripped out 
 to where her horse was, mounted, and rode 
 away. 
 
 The next week and the interval had 
 seemed long to her, and no less long to the 
 Miller of Hofbau she came again, and so 
 the week after ; and in the week following 
 that she came twice ; and on the second of 
 these two days, after dinner, the miller did 
 not go off to his sacks, but he followed her 
 out of the house, pipe in hand, when she 
 went to mount her horse, and as she was 
 about to mount, he said : 
 
 "Indeed you're a handy wench." 
 
 " You say much of my hands, but noth- 
 ing of my face," remarked Princess Osra. 
 
The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbau, 209 
 
 " Of your face ? " repeated the miller in 
 some surprise. " What should I say of 
 your face ? " 
 
 " Well, is it not a comely face ? " said 
 Osra, turning towards him that he might 
 be better able to answer her question. 
 
 The miller regarded her for some min- 
 utes, then a slow smile spread on his lips. 
 
 "Oh, aye, it is well enough," said he. 
 Then he laid a floury finger on her arm as 
 he continued : " If you come next week 
 why, it is but half a mile to church ! I'll 
 have the cart ready and bid the priest be 
 there. What's your name ?" For he had 
 not hitherto asked Osra's name. 
 
 " Rosa Schwartz," said she, and her face 
 was all alight with triumph and amuse- 
 ment. 
 
 " Yes, I shall be very comfortable with 
 you," said the miller. " We will be at the 
 church an hour before noon, so that there 
 may be time afterwards for the preparation 
 of dinner." 
 
 " That will be on Thursday in next 
 week ? " asked Osra. 
 
 " Aye, on Thursday," said the miller, and 
 he turned on his heel. But in a minute he 
 turned again, saying : " Give me a kiss, 
 then, since we are to be man and wife," 
 
210 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 and he came slowly towards her, holding 
 his arms open. 
 
 " Nay, the kiss will wait till Thursday. 
 Maybe there will be less flour on your face 
 then." And with a laugh she dived under 
 his outstretched arms and made her escape. 
 The day being warm, the miller did not 
 put himself out by pursuing her, but stood 
 where he was, with a broad comfortable 
 smile on his lips ; and so he watched her 
 ride away. 
 
 Now, as she rode, the Princess was much 
 occupied in thinking of the Miller of Hof- 
 bau. Elated and triumphant as she was at 
 having won from him a promise of marriage, 
 she was yet somewhat vexed that he had 
 not shown a more passionate affection, and 
 this thought clouded her brow for full half 
 an hour. But then her face cleared. "Still 
 waters run deep," she said to herself. " He 
 is not like these Court gallants, who have 
 learnt to make love as soon as they learn 
 to walk, and cannot talk to a woman with- 
 out bowing and grimacing and sighing at 
 every word. The miller has a deep nature, 
 and surely I have won his heart, or he 
 would not take me for his wife. Poor 
 miller ! I pray that he may not grieve very 
 bitterly when I make the truth known to 
 
The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbau* 211 
 
 him!" And then, at the thought of the 
 grief of the miller, her face was again 
 clouded ; but it again cleared when she con- 
 sidered of the great triumph that she had 
 won, and how she would enjoy a victory over 
 the King, and would have the finest bracelet 
 in all Strelsau as a gift from him. Thus 
 she arrived at the Castle in the height of 
 merriment and exultation. 
 
 It chanced that the King came to Zenda 
 that night, to spend a week hunting the 
 boar in the forest ; and when Osra, all 
 blushing and laughing, told him of her suc- 
 cess with the Miller of Hofbau he was 
 greatly amused, and swore that no such 
 girl ever lived, and applauded her, renew- 
 ing his promise of the bracelet ; and he de- 
 clared that he would himself ride with her 
 to Hofbau on the wedding-day, and see how 
 the poor miller bore his disappointment. 
 
 "Indeed I do not see how you are going 
 to excuse yourself to him/' he laughed. 
 
 " A purse of five hundred crowns must 
 do that ofrice for me," said she. 
 
 " What, will crowns patch a broken 
 heart?" 
 
 " His broken heart must heal itself, as 
 men's broken hearts do, brother ! " 
 
 " In truth, sister, I have known them 
 
2i2 The Heart of Princess Osra, 
 
 cure themselves. Let us hope it may be so 
 with the Miller of Hofbau." 
 
 " At the worst I have revenged the 
 wrongs of women on him. It is unendur- 
 able that any man should scorn us, be he 
 king or miller." 
 
 " It is indeed very proper that he should 
 suffer great pangs," said the King, " in 
 spite of his plaster of crowns. I shall love 
 to see the stolid fellow sighing and moaning 
 like a lovesick courtier." 
 
 So they agreed to ride together to the 
 miller's at Hofbau on the day appointed for 
 the wedding, and both of them waited with 
 impatience for it. But, with the bad luck 
 that pursues mortals (even though they be 
 princes) in this poor world, it happened 
 that early in the morning of the Thursday 
 a great officer came riding post-haste from 
 Strelsau to take the King's commands on 
 high matters of State ; and, although Ru- 
 dolf was sorely put out of temper by this 
 untoward interruption, yet he had no alter- 
 native but to transact the business before he 
 rode to the miller's at Hofbau. So he sat 
 fretting and fuming, while long papers were 
 readfto him, and the Princess walked up 
 and down the length of the drawbridge, 
 fretting also ; for before the King could 
 
The Indifference of the Miller of Hoflbau. 213 
 
 escape from his affairs, the hour of the wed- 
 ding was already come, and doubtless the 
 Miller of Hofbau was waiting with the priest 
 in the church. Indeed it was one o'clock 
 or more before Osra and the King set out 
 from Zenda, and they had then a ride of an 
 hour and a half ; and all this when Osra 
 should have been at the miller's at eleven 
 o'clock. 
 
 " Poor man, he will be half mad with 
 waiting and with anxiety for me ! " cried 
 Osra. " I must give him another hundred 
 crowns on account of it." And she added, 
 after a pause, " I pray he may not take it 
 too much to heart, Rudolf." 
 
 " We must try to prevent him doing him- 
 self any mischief in his despair," smiled the 
 King. 
 
 " Indeed it is a serious matter," pouted 
 the Princess, who thought the King's smile 
 out of place. 
 
 " It was not so when you began it," said 
 her brother ; and Osra was silent. 
 
 Then about half-past two they came in 
 sight of the mill. Now the King dismounted, 
 while they were still several hundred yards 
 away, and tied his horse to a tree in a clump 
 by the wayside ; and when they came near 
 to the mill he made a circuit and approached 
 
214 The Heart of Princess Osra, 
 
 from the side, and, creeping along to the 
 house, hid himself behind a large water-butt, 
 which stood just under the window ; from 
 that point he could hear what passed inside 
 the house, and could see if he stood erect. 
 But Osra rode up to the front of the mill, as 
 she had been accustomed, and, getting down 
 from her horse, walked up to the door. The 
 miller's cart stood in the yard of the mill, 
 but the horse was not in the shafts, and 
 neither the miller nor anybody else was to 
 be seen about ; and the door of the house 
 was shut. 
 
 " He must be waiting at the church," said 
 she. " But I will look in and make sure. 
 Indeed I feel half afraid to meet him." 
 And her heart was beating rapidly and her 
 face was rather pale as she walked up to 
 the door ; for she feared what the miller 
 might do in the passion of his disappoint- 
 ment at learning who she was and that she 
 could not be his wife. " I hope*the six hun- 
 dred crowns will comfort him," she said, as 
 she laid her hand on the latch of the door ; 
 and she sighed, her heart being heavy for 
 the miller, and, maybe a little heavy also 
 for the guilt that lay on her conscience for 
 having deceived him. 
 
 Now when she lifted the latch and 
 
ON EITHER SIDE 
 
 THE PRIEST OF THE VILLAGE AND THE MILLER OF 
 
 HOFBAU." Page 215. 
 
The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbau. 215 
 
 opened the door, the sight that met her 
 eyes was this : The table was strewn with 
 the remains of a brave dinner ; two burnt- 
 out pipes lay beside the plates. A smaller 
 table was in front of the fire ; on it stood a 
 very large jug, entirely empty, but bearing 
 signs of having Jbeen full not so long ago ; 
 and on either side of it, each in an arm- 
 chair, sat the priest of the village and the 
 Miller of Hofbau ; both of them were sleep- 
 ing very contentedly, and snoring some- 
 what as they slept. The Princess, smitten 
 by remorse at the spectacle, said softly : 
 
 " Poor fellow, he grew weary of waiting, 
 and hungry, and was compelled to take his 
 dinner ; and, like the kind man he is, he has 
 entertained the priest, and kept him here, so 
 that no time should be lost when I arrived. 
 Indeed I am afraid the poor man loves me 
 very much. Well, miller, or lord, or prince 
 they are all the same. Heigh-ho ! Why 
 did I deceive him ?" And she walked up 
 to the miller's chair, leant over the back 
 of it, and lightly touched his red cap with 
 her fingers. He put up his hand and 
 brushed with it, as though he brushed away 
 a fly, but gave no other sign of awakening. 
 
 The King called softly from behind the 
 water-butt under the window : 
 
2i6 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 " Is he there, Osra ? Is he there ? " 
 
 " The poor man has fallen asleep in weari- 
 ness," she answered. " But the priest is 
 here, ready to marry us. Oh, Rudolf, I am 
 so sorry for what I have done ! " 
 
 " Girls are always mighty sorry, after it is 
 done," remarked the King. " Wake him up, 
 Osra." 
 
 At this moment the Miller of Hofbau sat 
 up in his chair and gave a great sneeze ; and 
 by this sound the priest also was awakened. 
 Osra came forward and stood between 
 them. The miller looked at her, and tilted 
 his red cap forward in order that he might 
 scratch his head. Then he looked across 
 to the priest, and said : 
 
 " It is she, Father. She has come." 
 
 The priest rubbed his hands together, 
 and smiled uncomfortably. 
 
 " We waited two hours," said he, glancing 
 at the clock. " See, it is three o'clock now." 
 
 " I am sorry you waited so long," said 
 Osra, "but I could not come before. And 
 
 and now that I am come, I cannot " 
 
 But here she paused in great distress and 
 confusion, not knowing how to break her 
 sad tidings to the Miller of Hofbau. 
 
 The miller drew his legs up under his 
 chair, and regarded Osra with a grave air. 
 
The Indifference of the Miller of Hof bau. 217 
 
 " You should have been here at eleven," 
 said he. " I went to the church at eleven, 
 and the priest was there, and my cousin 
 Hans to act as my groom, and my cousin 
 Gertrude to be your maid. There we 
 waited hard on two hours. But you did not 
 come." 
 
 " I am very sorry, "pleaded Princess Osra. 
 The King laughed low to himself behind the 
 water-butt, being much amused at her dis- 
 tress and her humility. 
 
 " And now that you are come," pursued 
 the miller, scratching his head again, " I do 
 not know what we are to do." He looked 
 again at the priest, seeking counsel. 
 
 At this the Princess Osra, thinking that 
 an opportunity had come, took the purse of 
 six hundred crowns from under her cloak, 
 and laid it on the table. 
 
 " What is this ? " said the miller, for the 
 first time showing some eagerness. 
 
 " They are for you," said Osra as she 
 watched him while he unfastened the purse. 
 Then he poured the crowns out on the table, 
 and counted them one by one, till he had 
 told all the six hundred. Then he raised 
 his hands above his head, let them fall again, 
 sighed slightly, and looked across at the 
 priest 
 
218 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 " I warned you not to be in such a hurry, 
 friend miller," remarked the priest. 
 
 " I waited two hours," said the miller 
 plaintively, " and you know that she is a 
 handy wench, and very fond of me." 
 
 He began to gather up the crowns and 
 return them to the purse. 
 
 " I trust I am a handy wench," said Osra, 
 smiling, yet still very nervous, " and, in- 
 deed, I have a great regard for the miller, 
 but " 
 
 " Nay, he does not mean you," inter- 
 rupted the priest. 
 
 "Six hundred," sighed the miller, "and 
 Gertrude has but two hundred ! Still she 
 is a handy wench and very sturdy. I doubt 
 if you could lift a sack by yourself, as she 
 can." And he looked doubtfully at Osra's 
 slender figure. 
 
 " I do not know why you talk of Ger- 
 trude," said the Princess petulantly. " What 
 is Gertrude to me ? " 
 
 "Why, I take it that she is nothing at 
 all to you," answered the priest, folding his 
 hands on his lap and smiling placidly. 
 " Still, for my part, I bade him wait a little 
 longer." 
 
 " I waited two hours," said the miller. 
 " And Gertrude urged me, saying that you 
 
The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbau* 219 
 
 would not come, and that she would look 
 after me better than you, being one of the 
 family. And she said it was hard that 
 she should have no husband, while her own 
 cousin married a stranger. And since it 
 was all the same to me, provided I got a 
 handy and sturdy wench " 
 
 "What?" cried the Princess Osra ; and 
 the King was so interested that he rose up 
 from behind the water-butt, and, leaning his 
 elbows on the window-sill, looked in and 
 saw all that happened. 
 
 " It being," pursued the Miller of Hof- 
 bau, "all the same to me, so that I got 
 what I wanted, why, when you did not 
 come " 
 
 " He married his cousin," said the priest. 
 
 A sudden roar of laughter came from 
 the window. All three turned round, but 
 the King ducked his head and crouched 
 again behind the water-butt before they 
 saw him. 
 
 " Who was that ?" cried the priest. 
 
 " A lad that came to hold my horse," an- 
 swered Osra hastily, and then she turned 
 fiercely on the miller. 
 
 " And that," she said, " was all you 
 wanted ! I thought you loved me." 
 
 " Aye, I liked you very well," said the 
 
220 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 miller. " You are a handy " A stamp 
 
 of her foot drowned the rest. " But you 
 should have come in time," he went on. 
 
 " And this Gertrude is she pretty ? " 
 demanded Osra. 
 
 " Gertrude is well enough," said the mil- 
 ler. " But she has only two hundred 
 crowns." And he put the purse, now 
 full again, on the table with a resigned 
 sigh. 
 
 " And you shall have no more," cried 
 Osra, snatching up her purse in great rage. 
 " And you and Gertrude may " 
 
 " What of Gertrude ? " came at this mo- 
 ment from the door of the room where the 
 sacks were. The Princess turned round 
 swift as the wind, and she saw in the door- 
 way a short and very broad girl, with a very 
 wide face and straggling hair ; the girl's 
 nose was very flat, and her eyes were small ; 
 but her great mouth smiled good-humour- 
 edly and, as the Princess looked, she let 
 slip to the ground a sack of flour that she 
 had been carrying on her sturdy back. 
 
 " Aye, Gertrude is well enough," said the 
 miller, looking at her contentedly. " She is 
 very strong and willing." 
 
 Then, while Gertrude stood wondering 
 and staring with wide eyes in the doorway, 
 
The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbau. 221 
 
 the Princess swept up to the miller, and 
 leant over him, and cried : 
 
 " Look at my face, look at my face ! 
 What manner of face is it ? " 
 
 " It is well enough," said the miller. 
 " But Gertrude is 
 
 There was a crash on the floor, and 
 the six hundred crowns rolled out of the 
 purse, and scattered, spinning and rolling 
 hither and thither all over the floor and 
 into every corner of the room. And Prin- 
 cess Osra cried : " Have you no eyes ? " 
 and then she turned away ; for her lip was 
 quivering, and she would not have the miller 
 see it. But she turned from the miller 
 only to face Gertrude his wife ; Gertrude's 
 small eyes brightened with sudden intelli- 
 gence. 
 
 " Ah, you're the other girl 1 " said Ger- 
 trude with much amusement. " And was 
 that your dowry ? It is large ! I am glad 
 you did not come in time. But see, I'll pick 
 it up for you. Nay, don't take on. I dare 
 say you'll find another husband." 
 
 She passed by Osra, patting her on the 
 shoulder kindly as she went, and then fell on 
 her knees and began to pick up the crowns, 
 crawling after them all over the floor, and 
 holding up her apron to receive the recov- 
 
222 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 ered treasure. And Princess Osra stood 
 looking at her. 
 
 " Aye, you'll find another husband," 
 nodded the priest encouragingly. 
 
 "Aye, you'll find another husband," as- 
 sented the miller placidly. " And just as 
 one girl is pretty nearly as good as another 
 if she is handy and sturdy so one hus- 
 band is as good as another, if he can keep 
 a house over you." 
 
 Princess Osra said nothing. But Ger- 
 trude, having picked up the crowns, came 
 to her with a full apron, saying : 
 
 " Hold your lap, and I'll pour them in. 
 They'll get you a good husband." 
 
 Princess Osra suddenly bent and kissed 
 Gertrude's cheek, and she said gently : 
 
 " I hope you have got a good husband, 
 my dear ; but let him do some work for 
 himself. And keep the six hundred crowns 
 as a present from me, for he will value you 
 more with eight hundred than with two." 
 
 The eyes of all three were fixed on her 
 in wonder and almost in fear, for her tone 
 and manner were now different. Then she 
 turned to the miller, and she bit her lip 
 and dashed her hand across her eyes, and 
 she said : 
 
 " And you, miller, are the only sensible 
 
The Indifference of the Miller of Hofbau. 223 
 
 man I have found in all the kingdom. 
 Therefore good luck and a good wife to 
 you." And she gave a little short laugh, 
 and turned and walked out of the cottage, 
 leaving them all spellbound in wonder. 
 But the miller rose from his chair and ran 
 to the door, and when he reached it the 
 King was just lifting Osra on to her horse ; 
 the miller knew the King, and stood there 
 with eyes wide and cheeks bulged in won- 
 der ; but he could gasp out no more than 
 "The King, the King!" before Rudolf and 
 Osra were far away. And they could, 
 none of them, neither the miller, nor Ger- 
 trude, nor the priest, tell what the matter 
 meant, until one day King Rudolf rode 
 again to the mill at Hofbau, and, having 
 sent for the priest, told the three enough of 
 the truth, saying that the affair was the out- 
 come of a jest at Court ; and he made each 
 of them a handsome present, and vowed 
 them to secrecy by their fealty and attach- 
 ment to his person and his honour. 
 
 " So she would not have married me, 
 anyhow ? " asked the miller. 
 
 "I think not, friend," answered Rudolf 
 with a laugh. 
 
 " Then we are but quits and all is well. 
 Gertrude, the jug, my lass ! " 
 
224 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 And so, indeed, it seemed to the King 
 that they were but quits, and so he said to 
 the Princess Osra. But he declared that 
 she had so far prevailed with the miller 
 as to make him desire marriage as an ex- 
 cellent and useful thing in itself, although 
 she had not persuaded him that it was of 
 great moment whom a man married. There- 
 fore he was very anxious to give her the 
 bracelet which he had promised, and more 
 than once prayed her to accept it. But 
 Osra saw the laugh that lurked in the King's 
 eye, and would not consent to have the 
 bracelet, and for a long while she did not 
 love to speak of the Miller of Hofbau. 
 Yet once, when the King on some occasion 
 cried out very impatiently that all men were 
 fools, she said : 
 
 " Sire, you forget the Miller of Hofbau." 
 And she blushed, and laughed, and turned 
 her eyes away. 
 
 One other thing she did which very 
 greatly puzzled Queen Margaret, and all 
 the ladies of the Court, and all the waiting- 
 women, and all the serving-maids, and, in 
 fine, every person high or low who saw or 
 heard of it, except the King only. For in 
 winter evenings she took her scissors and 
 her needle, and she cut strips of ribbon, 
 
The Indifference of the Miller of Hoflbau. 225 
 
 each a foot long and a couple of inches 
 broad ; on each of them she embroidered 
 a motto or legend ; and she affixed the 
 ribbons bearing the legend to each and 
 every one of the mirrors in each of her 
 chambers at Strelsau, at Zenda, and at the 
 other royal residences. And her waiting- 
 women noticed that, whenever she had 
 looked in the mirror and smiled at her own 
 image or shewn other signs of pleasure in 
 it, she would then cast her eyes up to the 
 legend, and seem to read it, and blush a 
 little, and laugh a little, and sigh a little ; 
 the reason for which things they could by 
 no means understand. 
 
 For the legend was but this : 
 
 "Remember the Miller of Hofbau" 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 The Love of the Prince of Glottenbet g. 
 
 IT was the spring of the year when 
 Ludwig, Prince of Glottenberg, came court- 
 ing the Princess Osra ; for his father had 
 sought the most beautiful lady of a Royal 
 House in Europe, and had found none equal 
 to Osra. Therefore the Prince came to 
 Strelsau with a great retinue, and was 
 lodged in the White Palace, which stood on 
 the outskirts of the city, where the public 
 gardens now are (for the Palace itself was 
 sacked and burnt by the people in the ris- 
 ing of 1848). Here Ludwig stayed many 
 days, coming every day to the King's palace 
 to pay his respects to the King and Queen, 
 and to make his court to the Princess. 
 King Rudolf had received him with the 
 utmost friendship, and was, for reasons of 
 State then of great moment but now of 
 vanished interest, as eager for the match as 
 was the King of Glottenberg himself ; and 
 he grew very impatient with his sister when 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg* 227 
 
 she hesitated to accept Ludwig's hand, al- 
 leging that she felt for him no more than a 
 kindly esteem, and, what was as much to 
 the purpose, that he felt no more for her. 
 For although the Prince possessed most 
 courteous and winning manners, and was 
 very accomplished both in learning and in 
 exercises, yet he was a grave and pensive 
 young man, rather stately than jovial, and 
 seemed in the Princess's eyes (accustomed 
 as they were to catch and check ardent 
 glances), to perform his wooing more as a 
 duty of his station than on the impulse of 
 any passion. Finding in herself also no 
 such sweet ashamed emotions as had before 
 now invaded her heart on account of lesser 
 men, she grew grave and troubled. At last 
 she said to the King : 
 
 " Brother, is this love ? For I had as lief 
 he were away as here, and when he is here 
 he kisses my hand as though it were a 
 statue's hand ; and and I feel as though it 
 were. They say you know what love is. 
 Is this love ? " 
 
 " There are many forms of love," smiled 
 the King. " This is such love as a Prince 
 and a Princess may most properly feel." 
 
 " I do not call it love at all," said Osra 
 with a pout. 
 
228 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 When Prince Ludwig came next day to 
 see her and told her with grave courtesy 
 that his pleasure lay in doing her will, she 
 broke out : 
 
 " I had rather it lay in watching my face," 
 and then, ashamed, she turned away from 
 him. 
 
 He seemed grieved and hurt at her 
 words ; it was with a sigh that he said : 
 " My life shall be spent in giving you joy." 
 
 She turned round on him with flushed 
 cheek and trembling lips : 
 
 "Yes, but I had rather it were spent in 
 getting joy from me." 
 
 He cast down his eyes a moment, and 
 then, taking her hand, kissed it. But she 
 drew it away sharply. So that afternoon 
 they parted, he back to his Palace, she to 
 her chamber, where she sat, asking again : 
 " Is this love ? " and crying : " He does not 
 know love," and pausing, now and again, 
 before her mirror, to ask her pictured 
 face why it would not unlock the door of 
 love. 
 
 On another day she would be merry, or 
 feign merriment, rallying him on his sombre 
 air and formal compliments, professing that 
 for her part she soon grew weary of such 
 wooing, and loved to be easy and merry ; 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg. 229 
 
 for thus she hoped to sting him, so that he 
 would either disclose more warmth or alto- 
 gether forsake his pursuit. But he offered 
 many apologies, blaming nature that had 
 made him grave, but assuring her of his 
 deep affection and respect. 
 
 " Affection and respect ! " murmured Osra 
 with a little toss of her head. " Oh, that I 
 had not been born a Princess ! " And yet, 
 though she did not love him, she thought 
 him a very noble gentleman, and trusted 
 to his honour and sincerity in everything. 
 Therefore, when he still persisted, and Ru- 
 dolf and the Queen urged her, telling her 
 (the King mockingly, the Queen with a 
 touch of sadness) that she must not look 
 to find in the world such love as romantic 
 girls dreamt of, at last she yielded ; she 
 told her brother that she would marry 
 Prince Ludwig ; yet for a little while she 
 would not have the news proclaimed. So 
 Rudolf went, alone and privately, to the 
 White Palace, and said to Ludwig : 
 
 " Cousin, you have won the fairest lady 
 in the world. Behold, her brother says 
 it!" 
 
 Prince Ludwig bowed low, and taking 
 the King's hand, pressed it, thanking him 
 for his help and approval, and expressing 
 
230 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 himself as most grateful for the boon of the 
 Princess's favour. 
 
 " Will you not come with me and find 
 her ? " cried the King with a merry look. 
 
 " I have urgent business now," answered 
 Ludwig. " Beg the Princess to forgive me. 
 This afternoon I will crave the honour of 
 waiting on her with my humble gratitude." 
 
 King Rudolf looked at him, a smile curl- 
 ing on his lips ; and he said, in one of his 
 gusts of impatience : 
 
 "By heaven ! is there another man in the 
 world who would talk about gratitude, and 
 business, and the afternoon, when Osra of 
 Strelsau sat waiting for him ? " 
 
 " I mean no discourtesy," protested Lud- 
 wig, taking the King's arm, and glancing at 
 him with most friendly eyes. " Indeed, 
 dear friend, I am rejoiced and honoured. 
 But this business of mine will not wait." 
 
 So the King, frowning and grumbling 
 and laughing, went back alone and told the 
 Princess that the happy wooer was most 
 grateful, and would come after his business 
 was transacted that afternoon. But Osra, 
 having given her hand, would admit no 
 fault in the man she had chosen, and 
 thanked the King for the message with 
 great dignity. Then the King came to her, 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg;. 231 
 
 and, sitting down by her, stroked her hair, 
 saying softly : 
 
 "You have had many lovers, sister Osra, 
 and now comes a husband ! " 
 
 "Yes, now a husband," she murmured, 
 catching swiftly at his hand ; her voice was 
 half caught in a sudden sob. 
 
 " So goes the world our world," said the 
 King, knitting his brows and seeming to fall 
 for a moment into a sad reverie. 
 
 "I am frightened," she whispered. 
 " Should I be frightened if I loved him ? " 
 
 " I have been told so," said the King, 
 smiling again. " But the fear has a way 
 of being mastered then." And he drew 
 her to him, and gave her a hearty brother's 
 kiss, telling her to take courage. " You'll 
 thaw the fellow yet," said the King, 
 " though, I grant you, he is icy enough." 
 For the King himself had been by no means 
 what he called an icy man. 
 
 But Osra was not satisfied, and sought to 
 assuage the pain of her heart by adorning 
 herself most carefully for the Prince's com- 
 ing, hoping to fire him to love. For she 
 thought that if he loved she might, although 
 since he did not she could not. And surely 
 he did not, or all the tales of love were 
 false ! Thus she came to receive him very 
 
232 The Heart of Princess Osra, 
 
 magnificently arrayed. There was a flush 
 on her cheek and an uncertain, expectant, 
 fearful look in her eyes ; thus she stood be- 
 fore him, as he fell on his knee and kissed 
 her hand. Then he rose and declared his 
 thanks, and promised his devotion ; but as 
 he spoke the flush faded and the light 
 died from her eyes ; and when at last he 
 drew near to her and offered to kiss her 
 cheek, her eyes were dead and her face 
 pale and cold as she suffered him to touch 
 it. He was content to touch it but once, 
 and seemed not to know how cold it 
 was ; and so, after more talk of his father's 
 pleasure and his pride, he took his leave, 
 promising to come again the next day. 
 She ran to the window when the door was 
 closed on him, and thence watched him 
 mount his horse and ride away slowly, with 
 his head bent and his eyes downcast ; yet 
 he was a noble gentleman, stately and 
 handsome, kind and true. The tears came 
 suddenly into her eyes and blurred her sight 
 as she leant watching from behind the 
 hanging curtains of the window. Though 
 she dashed them away angrily, they came 
 again, and ran down her pale cold cheeks, 
 mourning the golden vision that seemed 
 gone without fulfilment. 
 
The Love of the Prince of Gtottenberg. 233 
 
 That evening there came a gentleman 
 from the Prince of Glottenberg, carrying 
 most humble excuses from his master, who 
 (so he said) was prevented from waiting on 
 the Princess the next day by a certain very 
 urgent affair which took him from Strelsau, 
 and would keep him absent from the city 
 all day long ; and the gentleman delivered 
 to Osra a letter from the Prince, full of 
 graceful and profound apologies, and plead- 
 ing an engagement that his honour would 
 not let him break ; for nothing short of 
 that, said he, should have kept him from 
 her side. There followed some lover's 
 phrases, scantily worded and frigid in an 
 assumed passion. But Osra, smiling gra- 
 ciously, sent back a message, readily accept- 
 ing all that the Prince urged in excuse. 
 And she told what had passed to the 
 King, with her head high in the air and 
 a careless haughtiness, so that even the 
 King did not rally her, nor yet venture to 
 comfort her, but urged her to spend the 
 day in riding with the Queen and him ; 
 for they were setting out for Zenda, where 
 the King was to hunt in the forest, and she 
 could ride some part of the way with them, 
 and return in the evening. And she, wish- 
 ing that she had sent first to the Prince to 
 
234 The Heart of Princess Osra, 
 
 bid him not come, agreed to go with her 
 brother ; it was better far to go than to wait 
 at home for a lover who would not come. 
 
 Thus the next morning they rode out, the 
 King and Queen with their retinue, the 
 Princess attended by one of her Guard, 
 named Christian Hantz, who was greatly 
 attached to her and most jealous in praise 
 and admiration of her. This fellow had 
 taken it on himself to be very angry with 
 Prince Ludwig's coldness, but dared say 
 nothing of it ; yet, impelled by his anger, 
 he had set himself to watch the Prince very 
 closely ; and thus he had, as he conceived, 
 discovered something which brought a twin- 
 kle into his eye and a triumphant smile to 
 his lips as he rode behind the Princess. 
 Some fifteen miles she accompanied her 
 brother, and then, turning with Christian, 
 took another way back to the city. Alone 
 she rode, her mind full of sad thoughts ; 
 while Christian, behind, still wore his mali- 
 cious smile. But presently, although she 
 had not commanded him, he quickened his 
 pace and came up to her side, relying for 
 excuse on the favour which she always 
 shewed him. 
 
 "Well, Christian," said she, "have you 
 something to say to me?" 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg, 235 
 
 For answer he pointed to a small house 
 standing among the trees, some way from 
 the road, and he said : 
 
 " If I were Ludwigand not Christian, yet 
 I would be here where Christian is, and not 
 there where Ludwig is," and he pointed 
 still at the house. 
 
 She faced round in anger at his daring 
 to speak to her of the Prince, but he was a 
 bold fellow and would not be silenced 
 now that he had begun to speak ; he knew 
 also that she would bear much from him. 
 So he leant over towards her, saying : 
 
 " By your bounty, madame, I have money, 
 and he who has money can get knowledge. 
 So I know that the Prince is there. For 
 fifty crowns I gained a servant of his, and 
 he told me." 
 
 " I do not know why you should spy on 
 the Prince," said Osra, " and I do not care 
 to know where the Prince is ; " and she 
 touched her horse with the spur and can- 
 tered forward fast, leaving the little house 
 behind. But Christian persisted, partly in 
 a foolish grudge against any man who 
 should win what was above his reach, partly 
 in an honest anger that she, whom he wor- 
 shipped, should be treated lightly by an- 
 other ; and he forced her to hear what he 
 
236 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 had learnt from the gossip of the Prince's 
 groom, telling it to her in hints and half- 
 spoken sentences, yet so plainly that she 
 could not miss the gist of it. 
 
 She rode the faster towards Strelsau, at 
 first answering nothing; but at last she turned 
 on him fiercely, saying that he told a lie, and 
 that she knew it was a lie, since she knew 
 where the Prince was, and what business had 
 taken him away ; and she commanded Chris- 
 tian to be silent and to speak neither to her 
 nor to any one else of his false suspicions ; 
 and she bade him very harshly to fall back 
 and ride behind her again, which he did, 
 sullen yet satisfied. For he knew that his 
 arrow had gone home. On she rode, with 
 her cheeks aflame and her heart beating, 
 until she came to Strelsau ; having arrived 
 at the Palace, she ran to her own bedroom 
 and flung herself on the bed. 
 
 Here for an hour she lay ; then, it being 
 about six o'clock, she sat up, pushing her 
 disordered hair back from her hot aching 
 brow. An agony of humiliation had come 
 upon her, and a fury of resentment against 
 the Prince, whose coldness seemed now to 
 need no more explanation. Yet she could 
 hardly believe what she had been told of him, 
 for though she had not loved him, she had 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg* 237 
 
 accorded to him her full trust. Rising, she 
 paced in pain about the room. She could 
 not rest ; she cried out in longing that her 
 brother were there, to aid her and find out 
 the truth for her. But he was away, and 
 she had none to whom she could turn. So 
 she strove to master her anger and endure 
 her suspense till the next day, but they were 
 too strong for her, and she cried : 
 
 " I will go myself, I cannot sleep till I 
 know. But I cannot go alone. Who will go 
 with me ? " But she knew of none, for she 
 would not take Christian with her, and she 
 shrank from speaking of the matter to any 
 gentlemen of the Court. Yet she must 
 know. At last she sprang from the chair 
 into which she had sunk despondent, ex- 
 claiming : 
 
 " He is a gentleman and my friend. He 
 will go with me." And she sent hastily for 
 the Bishop of Modenstein, who was then in 
 Strelsau, bidding him come dressed for rid- 
 ing, with a sword, and on the best horse in 
 his stables. The Bishop came equipped as 
 she bade him, and in very great wonder. 
 But when she told what she wanted, and 
 what Christian had made known to her, he 
 grew grave, saying that they must wait and 
 consult the King, when he returned. 
 
238 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 " I will not wait an hour," she cried. " I 
 cannot wait an hour." 
 
 " Then I will ride and bring you word. 
 You must not go," he urged. 
 
 " Nay, if I go alone I will go," said she. 
 " Yes, I will go, and myself fling his false- 
 ness in his teeth." 
 
 Finding her thus resolved, the Bishop 
 knew that he could not turn her ; so, leav- 
 ing her to prepare herself, he caught Chris- 
 tian Hantz, and charged him to bring their 
 horses to the most private gate of the palace, 
 which opened on a little by-street. Here 
 Christian waited for them with the horses, 
 and they came presently, the Bishop wear- 
 ing a great slouched hat, and swaggering 
 like a roystering trooper, while Osra was 
 closely veiled. The Bishop again imposed 
 secrecy on Christian, and then, they both 
 being mounted, said to Osra : " If you will 
 then, madame, come," and thus they rode 
 secretly out of the city, about seven in the 
 evening, the gate-wardens opening the gate 
 at sight of the Royal Arms on Osra's ring, 
 which she gave to the Bishop in order that 
 he might shew it. 
 
 In silence they rode a long way, going 
 at a great speed ; Osra's face was set and 
 rigid, for she felt now no shame at herself 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg* 239 
 
 for going, nor any fear of what she might 
 find, but the injury to her pride swallowed 
 every other feeling ; and at last she said, 
 in short sharp words, to the Bishop of 
 Modenstein, having suddenly thrown the 
 veil back from her face : 
 
 " He shall not live if it prove true." 
 
 The Bishop shook his head. His pro- 
 fession was peace ; yet his blood also was 
 hot against the man who had put a slight 
 on Princess Osra. 
 
 " The King must know of it," he said. 
 
 " The King ! The King is not here to- 
 night," said Osra ; and she pricked her 
 horse and set him at a gallop. The moon, 
 breaking suddenly in brightness from be- 
 hind a cloud, shewed the Bishop her face. 
 Then she put out her hand and caught 
 him by the arm, whispering : " Are you my 
 friend?" 
 
 " Yes, madame," said he. She knew well 
 that he was her friend. 
 
 " Kill him for me, then ; kill him for me." 
 
 " I cannot kill him," said the Bishop. " I 
 pray God it may prove untrue." 
 
 " You are not my friend, if you will not 
 kill him," said Osra ; and she turned her 
 face away and rode yet more quickly. 
 
 At last they came in sight of the little 
 
240 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 house standing back from the road ; and 
 there was a light in one of the upper win- 
 dows. The Bishop heard a short gasp 
 break from Osra's lips, as she pointed with 
 her whip to the window. Now his own 
 breath came quick and fast ; he prayed to 
 God that he might remember his sacred 
 character and his vows, and not be led into 
 great and deadly sin, at the bidding of that 
 proud and bitter face ; and he clenched his 
 left hand and struck his brow with it. 
 
 Thus then they came to the gate of the 
 avenue of trees that led to the house. Here, 
 having dismounted and tied their horses to 
 the gate-post, they stood for an instant, and 
 Osra again veiled her face. 
 
 " Let me go alone, madame," he implored. 
 
 " Give me your sword, and I will go 
 alone," she answered. 
 
 " Here, then, is the path," said the Bishop, 
 and he led the way by the moonlight that 
 broke fitfully here and there through the 
 trees. 
 
 " He swore that all his life should be 
 mine," she whispered. " Yet I knew that 
 he did not love me." 
 
 The Bishop made her no answer ; she 
 looked for none and did not know that she 
 spoke the bitterness of her heart in words 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg* 241 
 
 which he could hear. He bowed his head 
 and prayed again for her and for himself ; 
 for he had found his hand gripping the hilt 
 of his sword. Thus, side by side now, they 
 came to the door of the house, and saw a 
 gentleman standing in front of the door, 
 still but watchful. Osra knew that he was 
 the Prince's Chamberlain. 
 
 When the Chamberlain saw them, he 
 started violently and clapped a hand to his 
 sword ; but Osra flung her veil on to the 
 ground, and the Bishop gripped his arm as 
 with a vice. The Chamberlain looked at 
 Osra and at the Bishop, and half drew his 
 sword. 
 
 " This matter is too great for you, sir," 
 said the Bishop. " It is a quarrel of Princes. 
 Stand aside," and before the Chamberlain 
 could make up his mind what to do Osra 
 had passed by him and the Bishop had fol- 
 lowed her. 
 
 Finding themselves in a narrow passage, 
 they made out by the dim light of a lamp a 
 flight of stairs that rose from the furthest 
 end of it. The Bishop tried to pass the 
 Princess, but she motioned him back, and 
 walked swiftly to the stairs. In silence they 
 mounted, till they had reached the top of 
 the first stage ; and facing them, eight or 
 
242 The Heart of Princess Osra, 
 
 ten steps further up, was a door. By the 
 door stood a groom ; this was the man who 
 had treacherously told Christian of his mas- 
 ter's doings ; but when he saw suddenly 
 what had come of his disloyal chattering, 
 the fellow turned white as a ghost and 
 came tottering in stealthy silence down the 
 stairs, his finger on his lips. 
 
 Neither of them spoke to him, nor he to 
 them. They gave no thought to him, his 
 only thought was to escape as soon as he 
 might ; so he passed them, and, going on, 
 passed also the Chamberlain, who stood 
 dazed at the house-door, and so disap- 
 peared, intent on saving the life he had 
 justly forfeited. Thus the rogue vanished, 
 and what became of him none knew or 
 cared. He showed his face no more at 
 Glottenberg or Strelsau. 
 
 " Hark, there are voices ! " whispered 
 Osra to the Bishop, raising her hand above 
 her head, as they two stood listening. 
 
 The voices came from the door that faced 
 them, the voice of a man and the voice of a 
 woman ; Osra's glance at her companion 
 told him that she knew as well as he whose 
 the man's voice was. 
 
 " It is true, then," she breathed from be- 
 tween her teeth. " My God, it is true ! " 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenbergf* 243 
 
 The woman's voice spoke now, but the 
 words were not audible. Then came the 
 Prince's : 
 
 " For ever, in life or death, apart or to- 
 gether, for ever." 
 
 The woman's answer came no more in 
 words, but in deep low passionate sobs 
 which struck their ears like the distant cry 
 of some brute creature in pain that it can- 
 not understand. Yet Osra's face was stern 
 and cold, and her lips curled scornfully when 
 she saw the Bishop's look of pity. 
 
 " Come, let us end it," said she, and with 
 a firm step she began to mount the stairs 
 that lay between them and the door. 
 
 Yet once again they paused outside the 
 door, for it seemed as though the Princess 
 could not choose but listen to the passionate 
 words of love that pierced her ears like 
 knives ; yet they were all sad, speaking of 
 renunciation, not of happiness. 
 
 But at last she heard her own name ; 
 then with a sudden start she caught the 
 Bishop's hand, for she could not listen 
 longer. She staggered and reeled as she 
 whispered to him : 
 
 " The door, the door, open the door ! " 
 
 The Bishop, his right hand being across 
 his body and resting on the hilt of his 
 
244 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 sword, laid his left upon the handle of the 
 door, and turned it. Then he flung the 
 door open wide ; at that instant Osra 
 sprang past him, her eyes gleaming like 
 flames from her dead white face. And she 
 stood rigid on the threshold of the room, 
 with the Bishop by her side. 
 
 In the middle of the room stood the 
 Prince of Glottenberg ; strained in a close 
 embrace, clinging to him, supported by his 
 arms, with head buried in his breast, was a 
 girl of slight and slender figure, graceful 
 though not tall ; her body was still shaken 
 by continual struggling sobs. The Prince 
 held her there as though against the world, 
 but raised his head and looked at the in- 
 truders with a grave sad air. There was 
 no shame on his face, and hardly surprise. 
 Presently he took one arm from about the 
 lady, and, raising it, motioned to them to 
 be still. Osra took one step forward to- 
 wards where the pair stood ; the Bishop 
 caught her sleeve, but she shook him off. 
 The lady looked up into the Prince's face ; 
 with a sudden startled cry she clutched 
 him closer, and turned a terrified face over 
 her shoulder. Then she moaned in great 
 fear, and, reeling, fell against the Prince ; 
 she would have sunk to the ground if he 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg* 245 
 
 had not upheld her, and her eyes closed 
 and her lip dropped, as she swooned away. 
 But the Princess smiled, and, drawing her- 
 self to her full height, stood watching 
 while Ludwig bore the lady to a couch 
 and laid her there. Then, when he came 
 back and faced her, she asked coldly and 
 slowly : 
 
 " Who is this woman, sir ? Or is she one 
 of those who have no names ? " 
 
 The Prince sprang forward, a sudden 
 anger in his eyes ; he raised his hand as if 
 he would have pressed it across her scorn- 
 ful mouth and kept back her bitter words. 
 But she did not flinch ; pointing at him 
 with her finger, she cried to the Bishop in 
 a ringing voice : 
 
 " Kill him, my lord, kill him." 
 
 And the sword of the Bishop of Moden- 
 stein was half way out of the scabbard. 
 
 " I would to God, my lord," said the 
 Prince in low sad tones, "that God would 
 suffer you to kill me and me to take death 
 at your hands. But neither for you nor for 
 me is the blow lawful. Let me speak to 
 the Princess." 
 
 The Bishop still grasped his sword ; for 
 Osra's face and hand still commanded him. 
 But at the instant of his hesitation, while 
 
246 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 the temptation was hot on him, there came 
 from the couch where the lady lay a low 
 moan of great pain. She flung her arms 
 out and turned, groaning again, on her 
 back and her head lay hanging over the 
 side of the couch. The Bishop's eyes met 
 Ludwig's, and with a " God forgive me ! " 
 he let the sword slip back, and, springing 
 across the room, fell on his knees beside 
 the couch. He broke the gold chain round 
 his neck and grasped the crucifix which it 
 carried in one hand, while with the other 
 he raised the lady's head, praying her to 
 open her eyes, before whose closed lids he 
 held the sacred image ; and he, who had 
 come so near to great sin, now prayed 
 softly but fervently for her life and God's 
 pity on her ; for the frailty her slight form 
 showed could not withstand the shock of 
 this trial. 
 
 " Who is she ? " asked the Princess. 
 
 But Ludwig's eyes had wandered back to 
 the couch, and he answered only : 
 
 " My God, it will kill her." 
 
 " I care not," said Osra. But then came 
 another low moan. " I care not," said the 
 Princess again. " Ah, she is in great 
 suffering ! " And her eyes followed the 
 Prince's. 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg, 247 
 
 There was silence, save for the lady's low 
 moans and the whispered prayers of the 
 Bishop of Modenstein. But the lady 
 opened her eyes, and in an instant, answer- 
 ing the summons, the Prince was by her 
 side, kneeling and holding her hand very 
 tenderly ; and he met a glance from the 
 Bishop across her prostrate body. The 
 Prince bowed his head and one sob burst 
 from him. 
 
 " Leave me alone with her for a little, 
 sir," said the Bishop, and the Prince, obey- 
 ing, rose and withdrew into the bay of the 
 window, while Osra stood alone near the 
 door by which she had entered. 
 
 A few minutes passed, then Osra saw the 
 Prince return to where the lady was and 
 kneel again beside her ; and she saw that 
 the Bishop was preparing to perform his 
 most sacred and sublime office ; the lady's 
 eyes dwelt on him now in peace and rest- 
 fulness, and she held Prince Ludwig's hand 
 in her small hand. But Osra would not 
 kneel ; she stood upright, still and cold, as 
 though she neither saw nor heard anything 
 of what passed ; she would not pity nor 
 forgive the woman, even if, as they seemed 
 to think, she lay dying. But she spoke 
 once, asking in a harsh voice : 
 
248 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 " Is there no physician in the house or 
 near?" 
 
 " None, madame," said the Prince. 
 
 The Bishop began the office, and Osra 
 stood, dimly hearing the words of comfort, 
 peace, and hope, dimly seeing the smile on 
 the lady's face ; for gradually her eyes 
 clouded with tears. Now her ears seemed 
 to hear nothing save the sad and piteous 
 sobs that had shaken the girl as she hung 
 about Ludwig's neck. But she strove to 
 drive away her softer thoughts, fanning her 
 fury when it burnt low, and telling herself 
 again of the insult that she had suffered. 
 Thus she rested till the Bishop had per- 
 formed the office. But when he had finished 
 it, he rose from his knees and came to 
 where Osra was. 
 
 " It was your duty," she said, " but it is 
 none of mine." 
 
 " She will not live an hour," said he. 
 " For she had an affection of the heart, and 
 this shock has killed her. Indeed I think 
 she was half dead for grief before we came." 
 
 " Who is she ? " broke again from Osra's 
 lips. 
 
 " Come and hear," said he, and she fol- 
 lowed him obediently, yet unwillingly, to 
 the couch, and looked down at the lady. 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg. 249 
 
 The lady looked at her with wondering 
 eyes, and then she smiled faintly, pressing 
 the Prince's hand, and whispering : 
 
 "Yet she is so beautiful." And she 
 seemed now wonderfully happy, so that they 
 three all watched her and were envious, 
 although they were to live and she to die. 
 
 " Now God pardon her sin ! " said the 
 Princess Osra suddenly, and she fell on her 
 knees beside the couch, crying : " Surely 
 God has pardoned her ! " 
 
 " Sin she has none, save what clings even 
 to the purest in this world," said the Bis- 
 hop. " For what she has said to me I know 
 to be true." 
 
 Osra answered nothing, but gazed in 
 questioning at the Prince, and he, still hold- 
 ing the lady's hand, began to speak in a 
 gentle voice : 
 
 " Do not ask her name, madame. But 
 from the first hour that we knew the mean- 
 ing of love we have loved one another. And 
 had the issue rested in my hands, I would 
 have thrown to the winds all that kept me 
 from her. I remember when first I met 
 her ah, my sweet, do you remember ? 
 From that day to this in soul she has been 
 mine, and I hers in all my life. But more 
 could not be. Madame, you have asked 
 
2 so The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 what love is. Here is love. Yet fate is 
 stronger. Thus I came to Strelsau to woo, 
 and she, left alone, resolved to give herself 
 to God." 
 
 " How comes she here, then ? " whispered 
 Osra, and she laid one hand timidly on the 
 couch, near to the lady yet not so as to 
 touch even her garments. 
 
 11 She came here " he began ; but sud- 
 denly, to their amazement, the lady, who 
 had seemed dead, with an effort raised her- 
 self on her elbow, and spoke in a quick eager 
 whisper, as if she feared time and strength 
 would fail. 
 
 11 He is a great Prince," she said, " he 
 must be a great King ; God means him for 
 greatness, God forbid that I should be his 
 ruin. Ah, what a sweet dream he painted ! 
 But praise be to the Blessed Saints who 
 kept me strong. Yet at the last I was 
 weak. I could not live without another 
 sight of his face ; and so I came. Next 
 week I am I was to take the veil ; and I 
 came here to see him once again. God 
 pardon me for it. But I could not help it. 
 Ah, madame, I know you, and I see now 
 your beauty. Have you known love ?" 
 
 " No," said Osra ; and she moved her 
 hand near to the lady's hand. 
 
The Love of the Prince of Giottenberg. 251 
 
 " When he found me here, he prayed me 
 again to do what he asked ; and I was half 
 killed in denying it. But I prevailed, and 
 we were even then parting when you came. 
 Why, why did I come ? " For a moment 
 her voice died away in a low soft moan. 
 But she made one more effort ; clasping 
 Osra's hand in her delicate fingers, she whis- 
 pered : " I am going. Be his wife." 
 
 " No, no, no," whispered Osra, her face 
 now close to the lady's. " You must live ; 
 you must live and be happy." 
 
 And then she kissed the lady's lips. The 
 lady put out her arms and clasped them 
 round Osra's neck, and again she whispered 
 softly in Osra's ear. Neither Ludwig nor 
 the Bishop heard what she said, but they 
 heard only that Osra sobbed. Presently 
 the lady's arms relaxed a little in their hold, 
 and Osra, having kissed her again, rose and 
 signed to Ludwig to come nearer ; while she, 
 turning, gave her hand to the Bishop, and 
 he led her from the room, and, finding 
 another room near, took her in there, where 
 she sat, silent and pale. 
 
 Thus half an hour passed ; then the Bishop 
 stole out softly, and presently returned, 
 saying : 
 
 " God has spared her the long painful 
 
252 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 path, and has taken her straight to His 
 rest." 
 
 Osra heard him, half in a trance and as 
 if she did not hear ; she did not know where 
 he went nor what he did, nor anything that 
 passed, until, as it seemed after a long 
 while, she looked up and saw Prince Lud- 
 wig standing before her. He was composed 
 and calm ; but it seemed as if half the 
 life had gone out of his face. Osra rose 
 slowly to her feet, supporting herself on an 
 arm of the chair on which she had sat ; and, 
 when she had seen his face, she suddenly 
 threw herself on the floor at his feet, cry- 
 ing : 
 
 " Forgive me, forgive me !' 
 
 " The guilt is mine," said he, " I did not 
 trust you and did by stealth what your 
 nobility would have allowed me to do 
 openly. The guilt is mine." And he offered 
 to raise her. But she rose, unaided, asking 
 with choking voice : 
 
 -Is she dead?" 
 
 " She is dead," said the Prince, and Osra, 
 hearing it, covered her face with her hands 
 and blindly groped her way back to the 
 chair, where she sat, panting and exhausted. 
 
 " To her I have said farewell, and now, 
 madame, to you. Yet do not think that I 
 
FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME ! ' V Page 252. 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg. 253 
 
 am a man without eyes for your beauty, or 
 a heart to know your worth. I seemed to 
 you a fool and a churl. I grieved most 
 bitterly, and I wronged you bitterly. My 
 excuse for all is now known. For though 
 you are more beautiful than she, yet true 
 love is no wanderer ; it gives a beauty that 
 it does not find, and forges a chain no 
 charms can break. Madame, farewell." 
 
 She looked at him and saw the sad joy in 
 his eyes, an exultation over what had been, 
 that what was could not destroy ; and she 
 knew that the vision was still with him 
 though his love was dead. Suddenly he 
 seemed to her a man she also might love and 
 for whom she also, if need be, might gladly 
 die ; yet not because she loved him, for 
 she was asking still in wonder : " What is 
 this love ? " 
 
 " Madame, farewell," said he again, and, 
 kneeling before her, he kissed her hand. 
 
 " I carry the body of my love," he went 
 on, " back with me to my home, there to 
 mourn for her ; and I shall come no more to 
 Strelsau." 
 
 Osra bent her eyes on his face as he knelt, 
 and presently she said to him in a whisper 
 that was low for awe, not shame : 
 
 " You heard what she bade me do ? " 
 
254 The Heart of Princess Osra 
 
 " Yes, madame. I know her wish." 
 
 " And you would do it ? " she asked. 
 
 11 Madame, my struggle was fought before 
 she died. But now you know that my love 
 was not yours." 
 
 " That also I knew before, sir," and a 
 slight bitter smile came on her face. But 
 she grew grave again and sat there, seeming 
 to be pondering, while Prince Ludwig 
 waited. Then she suddenly leant forward 
 and said : 
 
 " If I loved I would wait for you to love. 
 Now what is this love that I cannot feel ? " 
 
 And then she sat again silent, but at last 
 raised her eyes again to his, saying in a 
 voice that even in the stillness of the room 
 he hardly heard : 
 
 " Now I nearly love you, for I have seen 
 your love and know that you can love ; 
 and I think that love must breed love, so 
 that she who loves must in God's time be 
 
 beloved. Yet I " She paused here, 
 
 and for a moment hid her face with her 
 hand. " Yet I cannot," she went on. " Is 
 it our Lord Christ who bids us take the 
 lower place? I cannot take it. He does 
 not so reign in my heart. For to my proud 
 heart ah, my heart so proud ! she would 
 be ever between us. I could not bear it. 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg, 255 
 
 Yet I believe now that with you I might 
 one day find happiness." 
 
 The Prince, though in that hour he could 
 not think of love, was yet very much moved 
 by her new tenderness and felt that what 
 had passed rather drew them together than 
 made any separation between them. And 
 it seemed to him that the dead lady's bless- 
 ing was on his suit ; so he said : 
 
 " Madame, I would most faithfully serve 
 you and you would be nearest and dearest 
 to me of all living women." 
 
 She waited awhile, then she sighed heavily, 
 looking in his face with an air of wistful 
 longing ; and she knit her brows as though 
 she were puzzled. But at last, shaking her 
 head, she said : 
 
 " It is not enough." 
 
 With this she rose and took him by the 
 hand, and they two went back together to 
 where the Bishop of Modenstein still prayed 
 beside the body of the lady. 
 
 Osra stood on one side of the body and 
 stretched her hand out to the Prince who 
 stood on the other side. 
 
 u See," said she, " she must be between 
 us." And having kissed the dead face 
 once, she left the Prince there by the side of 
 his love and herself went out ; and, turning 
 
256 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 her head, she saw that the Prince knelt again 
 by the corpse of his love. 
 
 " He does not think of me," she said to 
 the Bishop. 
 
 " His thoughts are still with her, madame," 
 he answered. 
 
 It was late night now, and they rode 
 swiftly and silently along the road to Strel- 
 sau. On all the way they spoke to one 
 another only a few words, both being sunk 
 deep in thought. But once Osra spoke, as 
 they were already near to Strelsau. For 
 she turned suddenly to the Bishop, saying : 
 
 " My lord, what is it ? Do you know it ? " 
 
 " Yes, madame, I have known it," 
 answered the Bishop. 
 
 " Yet you are a Churchman ! " 
 
 "True, madame," said he, and he smiled 
 sadly. 
 
 She seemed to consider, fixing her eyes 
 on his ; but he turned his aside. 
 
 " Could you not make me understand?" 
 she asked. 
 
 " Your lover, when he comes, will do 
 that, madame," said he, and still he kept 
 his eyes averted. Osra wondered why he 
 kept his eyes turned away ; yet presently 
 a faint smile curved her lips, and she said : 
 
 "It may be you might feel it, if you were 
 
The Love of the Prince of Glottenberg. 257 
 
 not a Churchman. But I do not. Many 
 men have said they loved me, and I have 
 felt something in my heart ; but not this." 
 
 " It will come," said the Bishop. 
 
 " Does it come then to every one ?" 
 
 " To most," he answered. 
 
 " Heigho, will it ever come to me? " she 
 sighed. 
 
 With this they were at home. And Osra 
 was for a long time very sorrowful for the 
 fate of the lady whom the Prince of Glotten- 
 berg had loved ; yet, since she saw Ludwig 
 no more, and the joy of youth conquers 
 sadness, she ceased to mourn ; but as she 
 walked alone she would wonder more and 
 more what it might be, this great love that 
 she did not feel. 
 
 "For none will tell me, not even the 
 Bishop of Modenstein," said she. 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke of Mittenheim. 
 
 KING RUDOLF, being in the worst of 
 humours, had declared in the presence of 
 all the Court that women were born to 
 plague men and for no other purpose what- 
 soever under heaven. Hearing this dis- 
 courteous speech, the Princess Osra rose and 
 said that for her part she would go walking 
 alone by the river outside the city gates, 
 where at least she would be assailed by no 
 more reproaches. For since she was irrevoc- 
 ably determined to live and die unmarried, 
 of what use or benefit was it to trouble her 
 with embassies, courting, or proposals from 
 either the Grand Duke of Mittenheim or 
 anybody else ? She was utterly weary of 
 this matter of love, and her mood would be 
 unchanged though this new suitor were as 
 exalted as the King of France, as rich as 
 Crcesus himself, and as handsome as the god 
 Apollo. She did not desire a husband, 
 and there was an end of it. Thus she went 
 
A YOUNG MAN SPRANG UP, AND, WITH A LOW BOW, DRKW ASIDK TO LET HER 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 259 
 
 out, while the Queen sighed, and the King 
 fumed, and the courtiers and ladies said to 
 one another that these dissensions made 
 life very uncomfortable at Strelsau, the 
 ladies further adding that he would be a 
 bold man who married Osra, although doubt- 
 less she was not ill-looking. 
 
 To the banks of the river outside the 
 walls then Osra went ; and as she went she 
 seemed to be thinking of nothing at all in 
 the world, least of all of whom she might 
 chance to meet there on the banks of the 
 river, where in those busy hours of the day 
 few came. Yet there was a strange new 
 light in her eyes, and there seemed a new 
 understanding in her mind ; and when a 
 young peasant wife came by, her baby in 
 her arms, Osra stopped her, and kissed the 
 child and gave money, and then ran on in 
 unexplained confusion, laughing and blush- 
 ing as though she had done something 
 which she did not wish to be seen. Then 
 without reason her eyes filled with tears, 
 but she dashed them away and burst sud- 
 denly into singing. And she was still sing- 
 ing when, from the long grass by the river's 
 edge, a young man sprang up, and, with a 
 very low bow, drew aside to let her pass. 
 He had a book in his hand, for he was' a 
 
260 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 student at the University, and came there 
 to pursue his learning in peace ; his plain 
 brown clothes spoke of no wealth or station, 
 though certainly they set off a stalwart 
 straight shape and seemed to match well 
 with his bright brown hair and hazel eyes. 
 Very low this young man bowed and Osra 
 bent her head. The pace of her walk 
 slowed, grew quicker, slowed again ; she was 
 past him, and with a great sigh he lay down 
 again. She turned, he sprang up ; she spoke 
 coldly, yet kindly. 
 
 " Sir," said she, " I cannot but notice that 
 you lie every day here by the river with your 
 book, and that you sigh. Tell me your 
 trouble, and if I can I will relieve it." 
 
 " I am reading, madame," he answered, 
 " of Helen of Troy, and I am sighing be- 
 cause she is dead." 
 
 "It is an old grief by now," said Osra, 
 smiling. " Will none serve you but Helen 
 of Troy ? " 
 
 " If I were a Prince," said he, " I need 
 not mourn." 
 
 "No, sir?" 
 
 " No, madame," he said, with another bow. 
 
 " Farewell, sir." 
 
 " Madame, farewell." 
 
 So she went on her way, and saw him no 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 261 
 
 more till the next day, nor after that till the 
 next day following ; and then came an in- 
 terval when she saw him not, and the inter- 
 val was no less than twenty-four hours ; yet 
 still he read of Helen of Troy, and still 
 sighed because she was dead, and he no 
 Prince. At last he tempted the longed-for 
 question from Osra's shy smiling lips. 
 
 "Why would you not mourn, sir, if you 
 were a Prince ?" said she. "For Princes 
 and Princesses have their share of sighs." 
 And with a very plaintive sigh Osra looked 
 at the rapid running river, as she waited for 
 his answer. 
 
 " Because then I would go to Strelsau 
 and so forget her." 
 
 " But you are at Strelsau now ! " she cried 
 with wondering surprise. 
 
 "Ah, but I am no Prince, madame," said 
 he. 
 
 " Can Princes alone forget in Strelsau ? " 
 
 " How should a poor student dare to 
 forget in Strelsau ? " As he spoke he made 
 bold to step near her and stood close, look- 
 ing down into her face. Without a word 
 she turned and left him, going through the 
 meadow with a step that seemed to dance 
 and yet led her to her own chamber, where 
 she could weep in quiet. 
 
262 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 " I know it now, I know it now," she 
 whispered softly that night to the tree which 
 rose by her window. " Heigho, what am I 
 to do ? I cannot live, no, and now I cannot 
 die. Ah me, what am I to do ? I wish I 
 were a peasant girl ; but then perhaps he 
 would not ah, yes, but he would ! " And 
 her low long laugh rippled in triumph 
 through the night, blending sweetly with 
 the rustling of the leaves under a summer 
 breeze ; and she stretched her white arms to 
 heaven, imploring the kind God with prayers 
 that she dared not speak even to His pitiful 
 ear. 
 
 " Love knows no Princesses, my Prin- 
 cess." It was that she heard as she fled from 
 him next day. She should have rebuked 
 him. But for that she must have stayed ; 
 and to stay she had not dared. But she 
 must rebuke him. She would see him again 
 in order to rebuke him. Yet all this while 
 she must be pestered with the court of the 
 Grand Duke of Mittenheim ! And when she 
 would not name a day on which the em- 
 bassy should come, the King flew into a 
 passion, and declared that he himself would 
 set a date for it. Was his sister mad, he 
 asked, that she would do nothing but walk 
 every day by the river's bank ? " Surely I 
 
'"YOU ARE THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD,' HK ANSWERED SMILING." Page 26j. 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 263 
 
 must be mad," thought Osra ; for no sane 
 being could be at once so joyful and so 
 piteously unhappy. 
 
 Did he know what it was he asked ? He 
 seemed to know nothing of it. He did not 
 speak any more now of Princesses, only of 
 his Princess, nor of Queens, save of his 
 heart's queen ; and when his eyes asked love, 
 they asked as though none would refuse and 
 there could be no cause for refusal. He 
 would have wooed his neighbour's daughter 
 thus, and thus he wooed the sister of King 
 Rudolf. 
 
 " Will you love me ? " was his question, 
 not, " Though you love, yet dare you own 
 your love ? " He seemed to shut the whole 
 world from her, leaving nothing but her and 
 him ; and in a world that held none but her 
 and him, she could love, unblamed, un- 
 troubled, and with no trembling. 
 
 " You forget who I am," she faltered 
 once. 
 
 "You are the beauty of the world," he 
 answered smiling, and he kissed her hand 
 a matter about which she could make no 
 great ado, for it was not the first time that 
 he had kissed it. 
 
 But the embassy from the Grand Duke 
 was to come in a week and to be received 
 
264 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 with great pomp. The ambassador was 
 already on the way, carrying proposals and 
 gifts. Therefore Osra went pale and sad 
 down to the river bank that day, having 
 declared again to the King that she would 
 live and die unmarried. But the King had 
 laughed cruelly. Surely she needed kind- 
 ness and consolation that sad day ; yet Fate 
 had kept for her a crowning sorrow ; for 
 she found him also almost sad ; at least she 
 could not tell whether he was sad or not. 
 For he smiled and yet seemed ill at ease, 
 like a man who ventures a fall with fortune, 
 hoping and fearing. And he said to her : 
 
 " Madame, in a week I return to my own 
 country." 
 
 She looked at him in silence with lips 
 just parted. For her life she could not 
 speak ; but the sun grew dark and the river 
 changed its merry tune to mournful dirges. 
 
 " So the dream ends," said he. " So 
 comes the awakening. But if life were all 
 a dream ? " His eyes sought hers. 
 
 " Yes," she whispered, " if life were all a 
 dream, sir ?" 
 
 " Then I should dream of two dreamers 
 whose dream was one, and in that dream I 
 should see them ride together at break of 
 day from Strelsau." 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke. 265 
 
 " Whither ? " she murmured. 
 
 " To Paradise," said he. " But the 
 
 dream ends. If it did not end " He 
 
 paused. 
 
 " If it did not end ? " a breathless longing 
 whisper echoed. 
 
 " If it did not end now, it should not end 
 even with death," said he. 
 
 " You see them in your dream ? You 
 see them riding?" 
 
 " Aye, swiftly, side by side, they two 
 alone, through the morning. None is near ; 
 none knows." 
 
 He seemed to be searching her face for 
 something that yet he scarcely hoped to 
 find. 
 
 " Their dream," said he, " brings them at 
 last to a small cottage ; it is where they 
 live." 
 
 " They live?" 
 
 " And work," he added. " For she keeps 
 his home while he works." 
 
 " What does she do ?" asked Osra, with 
 smiling wondering eyes. 
 
 " She gets his supper for him when he 
 comes home weary in the evening, and 
 makes a bright fire, and 
 
 " Ah, and she runs to meet him at the 
 door ! Oh, farther than the door ! " 
 
268 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 man were only firm enough and kept his 
 temper (which, by the way, the King had 
 not done, though none dared say so), he 
 could bring any foolish girl to reason in 
 good time. For in the softest voice, and 
 with the strangest smile flitting to her face, 
 the Princess Osra was pleased to bid the 
 embassy come on the fifth day from then. 
 
 <4 They shall have their answer then," said 
 she, flushing and smiling. 
 
 " It is as much as any lady could say," the 
 Court declared ; and it was reported through 
 all Strelsau that the match was as good as 
 made, and that Osra was to be Grand 
 Duchess of Mittenheim. 
 
 " She's a sensible girl after all," cried 
 Rudolf, all his anger gone. 
 
 The dream began then, before they came 
 to the cottage. Those days she lived in its 
 golden mists, that shut out all the cold 
 world from her, moving through space which 
 held but one form, and time that stood still 
 waiting for one divine unending moment. 
 And the embassy drew near to Strelsau. 
 
 It was night, the dead of night, and all 
 was still in the Palace. But the sentinel by 
 the little gate was at his post, and the gate- 
 warden stood by the Western Gate of the 
 city. Each was now alone, but to each, an 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke. 269 
 
 hour ago, a man had come stealthily and 
 silently through the darkness ; and each 
 was richer by a bag of gold than he had 
 been before. The gold was Osra's how 
 should a poor student, whose whole fortune 
 was two horses, scatter bags of gold ? And 
 other gold Osra had, aye, five hundred 
 crowns. Would not that be a brave sur- 
 . prise for the poor student ? And she, alone 
 of all awake, stood looking round her room, 
 entranced with the last aspect of it. Over 
 the city also she looked, but in the selfish- 
 ness of her joy did no more than kiss a 
 hasty farewell to the good city folk who 
 loved her. Once she thought that maybe, 
 some day, he and she would steal together 
 back to Strelsau, and sheltered by some 
 disguise watch the King ride in splendour 
 through the streets. But if not why, what 
 was Strelsau, and the people, and the rest ? 
 Ah, how long the hours were, before those 
 two horses stood by the little gate, and the 
 sentry and the gate-warden earned their 
 bags of gold ! So she passed the hours, the 
 last long lingering hours. 
 
 There was a little tavern buried in the 
 narrowest oldest street of the city. Here 
 the poor student had lodged ; here, in the 
 back room, a man sat at a table, and two 
 
268 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 man were only firm enough and kept his 
 temper (which, by the way, the King had 
 not done, though none dared say so), he 
 could bring any foolish girl to reason in 
 good time. For in the softest voice, and 
 with the strangest smile flitting to her face, 
 the Princess Osra was pleased to bid the 
 embassy come on the fifth day from then. 
 
 " They shall have their answer then," said 
 she, flushing and smiling. 
 
 " It is as much as any lady could say," the 
 Court declared ; and it was reported through 
 all Strelsau that the match was as good as 
 made, and that Osra was to be Grand 
 Duchess of Mittenheim. 
 
 " She's a sensible girl after all," cried 
 Rudolf, all his anger gone. 
 
 The dream began then, before they came 
 to the cottage. Those days she lived in its 
 golden mists, that shut out all the cold 
 world from her, moving through space which 
 held but one form, and time that stood still 
 waiting for one divine unending moment. 
 And the embassy drew near to Strelsau. 
 
 It was night, the dead of night, and all 
 was still in the Palace. But the sentinel by 
 the little gate was at his post, and the gate- 
 warden stood by the Western Gate of the 
 city. Each was now alone, but to each, an 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 269 
 
 hour ago, a man had come stealthily and 
 silently through the darkness ; and each 
 was richer by a bag of gold than he had 
 been before. The gold was Osra's how 
 should a poor student, whose whole fortune 
 was two horses, scatter bags of gold ? And 
 other gold Osra had, aye, five hundred 
 crowns. Would not that be a brave sur- 
 prise for the poor student ? And she, alone 
 of all awake, stood looking round her room, 
 entranced with the last aspect of it. Over 
 the city also she looked, but in the selfish- 
 ness of her joy did no more than kiss a 
 hasty farewell to the good city folk who 
 loved her. Once she thought that maybe, 
 some day, he and she would steal together 
 back to Strelsau, and sheltered by some 
 disguise watch the King ride in splendour 
 through the streets. But if not why, what 
 was Strelsau, and the people, and the rest ? 
 Ah, how long the hours were, before those 
 two horses stood by the little gate, and the 
 sentry and the gate-warden earned their 
 bags of gold ! So she passed the hours, the 
 last long lingering hours. 
 
 There was a little tavern buried in the 
 narrowest oldest street of the city. Here 
 the poor student had lodged ; here, in the 
 back room, a man sat at a table, and two 
 
270 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 others stood before him. These two seemed 
 gentlemen, and their air spoke of military 
 training. They stroked long moustaches 
 and smiled with an amusement that defer- 
 ence could not hide. Both were booted 
 and wore spurs, and the man sitting at the 
 table gave them orders. 
 
 1 'You will meet the embassy," he said to 
 one, " about ten o'clock. Bring it to the 
 place I have appointed, and wait there. 
 Do not fail." 
 
 The officer addressed bowed and retired. 
 A minute later his horse's hoofs clattered 
 through the streets. Perhaps he also had 
 a bag of gold, for the gate-warden opened 
 the Western Gate for him, and he rode at a 
 gallop along the river banks, till he reached 
 the great woods that stretch to within ten 
 miles of Strelsau. 
 
 " An hour after we are gone," said the 
 man at the table to the other officer, " go 
 warily, find one of the King's servants, and 
 hand him the letter. Give no account of 
 how you came by it, and say nothing of who 
 you are. All that is necessary is in the 
 letter. When you have delivered it, return 
 here and remain in close hiding, till you 
 hear from me again." 
 
 The second officer bowed. The man at 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 271 
 
 the table rose and went out into the street. 
 He took his way to where the Palace rose, 
 and then skirted the wall of its gardens, till 
 he came to the little gate. Here stood two 
 horses, and at their heads a man. 
 
 " It is well. You may go," said the 
 student ; and he was left alone with the 
 horses. They were good horses for a 
 student to possess. The thought perhaps 
 crossed their owner's mind, for he laughed 
 softly as he looked at them. Then he also 
 fell to thinking that the hours were long ; 
 and a fear came suddenly upon him that 
 she would not come. It was in these last 
 hours that doubts crept in ; and he was not 
 with her to drive them away. Would the 
 great trial fail ? Would she shrink at the 
 last ? But he would not think it of her, 
 and he was smiling again, when the clock of 
 the Cathedral struck two, telling him that 
 no more than an hour now parted her from 
 him. For she would come ; the Princess 
 would come to him, the student, led by the 
 vision of that cottage in the dream. 
 
 Would she come ? She would come ; she 
 had risen from her knees and moved to and 
 fro in cautious silence, making her last prep- 
 arations. She had written a word of love 
 for the brother she loved for some day, of 
 
*7 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 course, Rudolf would forgive her and she 
 had ready all that she took with her, the 
 five hundred crowns, one ring that she would 
 give her lover, some clothes to serve till his 
 loving labour furnished more. That night 
 she had wept and she had laughed ; now 
 she neither wept nor laughed ; but there 
 was a high pride in her face and gait. She 
 opened the door of her room, and walked 
 down the great staircase, under the eyes of 
 crowned Kings who hung framed upon the 
 walls. And as she went she seemed indeed 
 their daughter. For her head was erect, 
 and her lips set firm in haughty dignity. 
 Who dared to say that she did anything that 
 a King's daughter should not do ? Should 
 not a woman love ? Love should be her 
 diadem. And so with this proud step she 
 came through the gardens of the Palace, 
 looking neither to right nor left, nor be- 
 hind, but with her face set straight for the 
 little gate ; and she walked as she had been 
 accustomed to walk when all Strelsau looked 
 on her, and hailed her as its glory and its 
 darling. 
 
 The sentry slept, or seemed to sleep. 
 Her face was not even veiled when she 
 opened the little gate ; she would not veil 
 her proud face, it was his to look on now 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 273 
 
 when he would ; and thus she stood for an 
 instant in the gateway, while he sprang to 
 her, and, kneeling, carried her hand to his 
 lips. 
 
 "You are come? "he cried; for though 
 he had believed, yet he wondered. 
 
 " I am come," she smiled. " Is not the 
 word of a Princess sure? Ah, how could I 
 not come ? " 
 
 "See, love," said he, rising, "day dawns 
 in royal purple for you, and golden love for 
 
 me." 
 
 " The purple is for my King and the love 
 for me," she whispered, as he led her to the 
 horses. " Your fortune ! " said she, point- 
 ing to them. " But I also have brought a 
 dowry. Fancy, five hundred crowns ! " and 
 her mirth and happiness burst out in a 
 laugh. It was so deliciously little, five 
 hundred crowns ! 
 
 She was mounted now and he stood by 
 her. 
 
 " Will you turn back ? " he said. 
 
 " You shall not make me angry," said she. 
 " Come, mount." 
 
 " Aye, I must mount," said he. " For if 
 we were found here the King would kill 
 me." 
 
 For the first time the peril of their enter- 
 
274 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 prise seemed to strike into her mind, and 
 turned her cheek pale. 
 
 "Ah, I forgot ! In my happiness I for- 
 got. Mount, mount ! Oh, if he found 
 you ! " 
 
 He mounted. Once they clasped hands ; 
 then they rode swiftly for the Western Gate. 
 
 "Veil your face," he said, and since he 
 bade her, she obeyed, saying : 
 
 4< But I can see you through the veil." 
 
 The gate stood open, and the gate-warden 
 was not there. They were out of the city, 
 the morning air blew cold and pure over the 
 meadows from the river. The horses 
 stretched into an eager willing gallop. Osra 
 tore her veil from her face, and turned on 
 him eyes of radiant triumph. 
 
 " It is done," she cried, " it is done." 
 
 " Yes, it is done, my Princess," said he. 
 
 " And and it is begun, my Prince," said 
 she. 
 
 " Yes, and it is begun," said he. 
 
 She laughed aloud in absolute joy, and 
 for a moment he also laughed. 
 
 But then his face grew grave, and he said : 
 
 " I pray you may never grieve for it." 
 
 She looked at him with eyes wide in 
 wonder ; for an instant she seemed puzzled ; 
 then she fell again to laughing. 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke. 275 
 
 " Grieve for it ! " said she, between her 
 merry laughs. 
 
 King Rudolf was a man who lay late in 
 the morning, and he was not well pleased 
 to be roused when the clock had but just 
 struck four. Yet he sat up in his bed 
 readily enough, for he imagined that the 
 embassy from the Grand Duke of Mitten- 
 heim must be nearer than he thought, and, 
 sooner than fail in any courtesy towards a 
 Prince whose alliance he ardently desired, 
 he was ready to submit to much incon- 
 venience. But his astonishment was great, 
 when, instead of any tidings from the em- 
 bassy, one of his gentlemen handed him a 
 letter, saying that a servant had received it 
 from a stranger with instructions to carry it 
 at once to the King ; when asked if an 
 answer were desired from his Majesty, the 
 stranger had answered, " Not through me," 
 and at once turned away and quickly dis- 
 appeared. The King, with a peevish oath 
 at having been roused for such a trifle broke 
 the seal and fastenings of the letter, and 
 opened it ; and he read : 
 
 " Sire, Your sister does not wait for the 
 embassy, but chooses her own lover. She 
 has met a student of the University every 
 day for the last three weeks by the river 
 
276 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 bank." (The King started.) " This morn- 
 ing she has fled with him on horseback 
 along the Western Road. If you desire a 
 student for a brother-in-law, sleep again ; if 
 not, up and ride. Do not doubt these tid- 
 ings." 
 
 There was no signature to the letter ; yet 
 the King, knowing his sister, cried : 
 
 " See whether the Princess is in the 
 Palace. And in the meanwhile saddle my 
 horse, and let a dozen of the Guard be at 
 the gate." 
 
 The Princess was not in the Palace, but 
 her women found the letter that she had 
 left, and brought it to the King. And the 
 King read : " Brother, whom I love best of 
 all men in the world save one, I have left 
 you to go with that one. You will not for- 
 give me now, but some day forgive me. 
 Nay, it is not I who have done it, but my 
 love which is braver than I. He is the 
 sweetest gentleman alive, brother, and there- 
 fore he must be my lord. Let me go, but 
 still love me. Osra." 
 
 " It [is true," said the King ; " and the 
 embassy will be here to-day ! " For a 
 moment he seemed dazed. Yet he spoke 
 nothing to anybody of what the letters con- 
 tained, but sent word to the Queen's apart- 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 277 
 
 ments that he went riding for pleasure. 
 And he took his sword and his pistols ; for 
 he swore that by his own hand and by that 
 of no other man, this " sweetest gentleman 
 alive " should meet his death. But all, 
 knowing that the Princess was not in the 
 Palace, guessed that the King's sudden 
 haste concerned her ; and great wonder and 
 speculation rose in the Palace, and presently, 
 as the morning advanced, spread from the 
 Palace to its environs, and from the environs 
 to the rest of the city. For it was reported 
 that a sentinel who had stood guard that 
 night was missing, and that the gate-warden 
 of the Western Gate was nowhere to be 
 found, and that a mysterious letter had 
 come by an unknown hand to the King, 
 and lastly, that Princess Osra their Prin- 
 cess was gone, whether of her own will or 
 by some bold plot of seizure and kidnap- 
 ping, none knew. Thus a great stir grew in 
 all Strelsau ; men stood about the streets 
 gossiping when they should have gone to 
 work, while women chattered instead of 
 sweeping their houses and dressing their 
 children. So that when the King rode out 
 of the courtyard of the Palace at a gallop, 
 with twelve of the Guard behind, he could 
 hardly make his way through the streets for 
 
278 The Heart of Princess Osra<> 
 
 the people who crowded round him, implor- 
 ing 1 him to tell them where the Princess 
 was. When the King saw that the matter 
 had become public, his wrath was greater 
 still, and he swore again that the student of 
 the University should pay the price of life 
 for his morning ride with the Princess. 
 And when he darted through the gate and 
 set his horse straight along the Western 
 Road, many of the people, neglecting all 
 their business as folk will for excitement's 
 sake, followed him as they best could, agog 
 to see the thing to its end. 
 
 " The horses are weary," said the student 
 to the Princess, "we must let them rest; 
 we are now in the shelter of the wood." 
 
 (i But my brother may pursue you," she 
 urged, " and if he came up with you ah, 
 heaven forbid ! " 
 
 " He will not know you have gone for 
 another three hours," smiled he. " And 
 here is a green bank where we can rest." 
 
 So he aided her to dismount ; then, say- 
 ing he would tether the horses, he led them 
 away some distance, so that she could not 
 see where he had posted them ; and he re- 
 turned to her, smiling still. Then he took 
 from his pocket some bread, and breaking 
 the loaf in two, gave her one half, saying : 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 279 
 
 " There is a spring just here ; so we shall 
 have a good breakfast." 
 
 " Is this your breakfast ?" she asked with 
 a wondering laugh. Then she began to 
 eat, and cried directly: " How delicious this 
 bread is ! I would have nothing else for 
 breakfast " ; and at this the student laughed. 
 
 Yet Osra ate little of the bread she liked 
 so well ; presently she leant against her 
 lover's shoulder, and he put his arm round 
 her ; and they sat for a little while in silence 
 listening to the soft sounds that filled the 
 waking woods as day grew to fulness and 
 the sun beat warm through the sheltering 
 foliage. 
 
 " Don't you hear the trees ?" Osra whis- 
 pered to her lover. " Don't you hear them ? 
 They are whispering for me what I dare 
 not whisper." 
 
 "What is it they whisper, sweet?" he 
 asked ; he himself did no more than whisper. 
 
 " The trees whisper, ' Love, love, love.' 
 And the wind don't you hear the wind 
 murmuring, ' Love, love, love ' ? And the 
 birds sing, ' Love, love, love.' Aye, all the 
 world to-day is softly whispering, ' Love, 
 love, love.' What else should the great 
 world whisper but my love ? For my love 
 is greater than the world," And she sud- 
 
280 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 denly hid her face in her hands ; and he 
 could kiss no more than her hands, though 
 her eyes gleamed at him from between slim 
 white fingers. 
 
 But suddenly her hands dropped, and she 
 leant forward as though she listened. 
 
 " What is that sound ? " she asked, appre- 
 hension dawning in her eyes. 
 
 " It is but another whisper, love ! " said he. 
 
 " Nay, but it sounds to me like ah, like 
 the noise of horses galloping." 
 
 " It is but the stream, beating over stones." 
 
 " Listen, listen, listen !" she cried spring- 
 ing to her feet. " They are horses' hoofs ! 
 Ah, merciful God, it is the King ! " And 
 she caught him by the hand and pulled him 
 to his feet, looking at him with a face pale 
 and alarmed. 
 
 " Not the King," said he. " He would 
 not know yet. It is some one else. Hide 
 your face, dear lady, and all will be well." 
 
 " It is the King," she cried. " Hark how 
 ili< y j'lillop on the road ! It is my brother. 
 l.ovr, he will kill you, love, he will kill 
 you." 
 
 " It is the King," said he, " I have been 
 
 ' 'J he horses, the horses ! " she cried, 
 I'.y your I<>\<- lor me, the horses!" 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke. 281 
 
 He nodded his head, and, turning, disap- 
 peared among the trees. She stood with 
 clasped hands, heaving breast, and fearful 
 eyes, awaiting his return. Minutes passed 
 and he did not come. She flung herself on 
 her knees, beseeching heaven for his life. 
 At last he came alone, and he bent over 
 her, taking her hand. 
 
 " My love," said he, " the horses are gone ! " 
 
 " Gone ? " she cried, gripping his hand. 
 
 " Aye. This love, my love, is a wonder- 
 ful thing. For I forgot to tie them, and 
 they are gone. Yet what matter ? For the 
 King yes, sweet, I think now it is the 
 King will not be here for some minutes 
 yet, and those minutes I have still for love 
 and life." 
 
 " He will kill you," she said. 
 
 " Yes," said he. 
 
 She looked long in his eyes ; then she 
 threw her arms about his neck, and, for the 
 first time unasked, covered his face with 
 kisses. 
 
 " Kiss me, kiss me," said she ; and he 
 kissed her. Then she drew back a little, 
 but took his arm and set it round her waist. 
 And she drew a little knife from her girdle, 
 and showed it to him. 
 
 " If the King will not pardon us and let 
 
282 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 us love one another, I also will die," said 
 she, and her voice was quiet and happy. 
 " Indeed, my love, I should not grieve. Ah, 
 do not tell me to live without you ! " 
 
 " Would you obey ? " he asked. 
 
 " Not in that," said she. 
 
 Thus they stood, while the sound of the 
 hoofs drew very near. But she looked up 
 at him and he looked at her ; then she 
 looked at the point of the little dagger, and 
 she whispered : 
 
 " Keep your arm round me till I die." 
 
 He bent his head and kissed her once 
 again, saying : 
 
 " My Princess, it is enough." 
 
 And she, though she did not know why 
 he smiled, yet smiled back at him. For 
 although life was sweet that day, yet such a 
 death, with him, and to prove her love for 
 him, seemed well-nigh as sweet. Thus they 
 awaited the coming of the King. 
 
 King Rudolf and his Guards far out- 
 stripped the people who pursued them from 
 the city, and when they came to the skirt 
 of the wood they divided themselves into 
 four parties, since, if they went all together, 
 they might easily miss the fugitives whom 
 they sought. Of these four parties one 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 283 
 
 found nothing, another found the two horses, 
 which the student himself, who had hidden 
 them, failed to find ; the third party had not 
 gone far before they caught sight of the 
 lovers, though the lovers did not see them ; 
 and two of them remained to watch, and if 
 need were to intercept any attempted flight, 
 while the other rode off to find the King 
 and bring him where Osra and the student 
 were, as he had commanded. 
 
 But the fourth party, with which the 
 King was, though it did not find the fugi- 
 tives, found the embassy from the Grand 
 Duke of Mittenheim ; for the ambassador, 
 with all his train, was resting by the road- 
 side, seeming in no haste at all to reach 
 Strelsau. When the King suddenly rode 
 up at great speed and came upon the em- 
 bassy, an officer that stood by the ambassa- 
 dor whose name was Count Sergius of 
 Antheim stooped down and whispered in 
 his Excellency's ear ; upon which he rose 
 and advanced towards the King, uncovering 
 his head and bowing profoundly ; for he 
 chose to assume that the King had ridden 
 to meet him out of excessive graciousness 
 and courtesy towards the Grand Duke ; so 
 that he began, to the impatient King's infi- 
 nite annoyance, to make a very long and 
 
284 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 stately speech, assuring his Majesty of the 
 great hope and joy with which his master 
 awaited the result of the embassy ; for, said 
 he, since the King was so zealous in his 
 cause, his master could not bring himself to 
 doubt of success, and therefore most confi- 
 dently looked to win for his bride the most 
 exalted and lovely lady in the world, the 
 peerless Princess Osra, the glory of the 
 Court of Strelsau, and the brightest jewel 
 in the crown of the King her brother. Hav- 
 ing brought this period to a prosperous 
 conclusion, Count Sergius took breath 
 and began another that promised to be 
 fully as magnificent and not a whit less 
 long. So that, before it was well started, 
 the King smote his hand on his thigh, and 
 roared : 
 
 " Heavens, man, while you're making 
 speeches, that rascal is carrying off my 
 sister ! " 
 
 Count Sergius, who was an elderly man 
 of handsome presence and great dignity, 
 being thus rudely and strangely interrupted, 
 showed great astonishment and offence ; but 
 the officer by him covered his mouth with 
 his hand to hide a smile. For the moment 
 that the King had spoken these impetuous 
 words he was himself overwhelmed with 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 285 
 
 confusion ; since the last thing that he 
 wished the Grand Duke's ambassador to 
 know was that the Princess, whom his mas- 
 ter courted, had run away that morning 
 with a student of the University of Strelsau. 
 Accordingly he began, very hastily and with 
 more regard for prudence than for truth, to 
 tell Count Sergius how a noted and bold 
 criminal had that morning swooped down 
 on the Princess as she rode unattended out- 
 side the city and carried her off ; which 
 seemed to the ambassador a very strange 
 story. But the King told it with great 
 fervour, and he besought the Count to 
 scatter his attendants all through the wood, 
 and seek the robber ; yet he charged them 
 not to kill the man themselves but to keep 
 him till he came. " For I have sworn to 
 kill him with my own hand," he cried. 
 
 Now Count Sergius, however much aston- 
 ished he might be, could do nothing but 
 accede to the King's request, and he sent 
 off all his men to scour the woods, and, 
 mounting his horse, himself set out with 
 them, showing great zeal in the King's 
 service, but still thinking the King's story 
 a very strange one. Thus the King was 
 left alone with his two Guards and with 
 the officer who had smiled. 
 
286 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 "Will you not go also, sir?" asked the 
 King. 
 
 But at this moment a man galloped up 
 at furious speed, crying : 
 
 " We have found them, sire, we have 
 found them ! " 
 
 " Then he hasn't five minutes to live!" 
 cried the King in fierce joy, and he lugged 
 out his sword, adding : " The moment I set 
 my eyes on him, I will kill him. There is 
 no need for words between me and him." 
 
 At this speech the face of the officer grew 
 suddenly grave and alarmed, and he put 
 spurs to his horse and hastened after the 
 King, who had at once dashed away in the 
 direction in which the man had pointed ; 
 but the King had got a start and kept it, so 
 that the officer seemed terribly frightened, 
 and muttered to himself : 
 
 " Heaven send that he does not kill him 
 before he knows ! " And he added some 
 very impatient words, concerning the follies 
 of Princes, and, above all, of Princes in 
 love. 
 
 Thus, while the ambassador and his men 
 searched high and low for the noted robber, 
 and the King's men hunted for the student 
 of the University, the King, followed by 
 two of his Guards at a distance of about 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 287 
 
 fifty yards (for his horse was better than 
 theirs), came straight to where Osra and 
 her lover stood together ; a few yards be- 
 hind the Guards came the officer ; and he 
 also had by now drawn his sword. But he 
 rode so eagerly that he overtook and passed 
 the King's Guards, and got within thirty 
 yards of the King by the time that the 
 King was within twenty of the lovers. But 
 the King let him get no nearer, for he dug 
 his spurs again into his horse's side, and 
 the animal bounded forward, while the 
 King cried furiously to his sister : " Stand 
 away from him ! " 
 
 The Princess did not heed, but stood in 
 front of her lover (for the student was 
 wholly unarmed), holding up the little dag- 
 ger in her hand. The King laughed scorn- 
 fully and angrily, thinking that Osra 
 menaced him with the weapon, and not 
 supposing that it was herself for whom she 
 destined it. And, having reached them, the 
 King leapt from his horse and ran at them, 
 with his sword raised to strike. Osra gave 
 a cry of terror. " Mercy ! " she cried, 
 " mercy ! " But the King had no thought 
 of mercy, and he would certainly then and 
 there have killed her lover, had not the 
 officer, gaining a moment's time by the 
 
288 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 King's dismounting, at this very instant 
 come galloping up ; and, there being no 
 leisure for any explanation, he leant from his 
 saddle as he dashed by, and, putting out 
 his hand, snatched the King's sword away 
 from him, just as the King was about to 
 thrust it through his sister's lover. 
 
 But the officer's horse was going so 
 furiously that he could not stop it for hard 
 on forty yards ; he narrowly escaped split- 
 ting his head against a great bough that 
 hung low across the grassy path, and he 
 dropped first his own sword and then the 
 King's ; but at last he brought his horse to 
 a standstill, and, leaping down, ran back 
 towards where the swords lay. But at the 
 moment the King also ran towards them ; 
 for the fury that he had been in before was 
 as nothing to that which now possessed him. 
 After his sword was snatched from him he 
 stood in speechless anger for a full minute, 
 but then had turned to pursue the man who 
 had dared to treat him with such insult ; 
 and now, in his desire to be at the officer, 
 he had come very near to forgetting the 
 student. Just as the officer came to where 
 the King's sword lay and picked it up, the 
 King in his turn reached the officer's sword 
 and picked up that. The King came with 
 
The Victory of the Grand Dnke* 289 
 
 a rush at the officer, who, seeing that the 
 King was likely to kill him, or he the King, 
 if he stood his ground, turned tail and sped 
 away at the top of his speed through the 
 forest ; but as he went, thinking that the 
 time had come for plain speaking, he looked 
 back over his shoulder and shouted : 
 
 " Sire, it's the Grand Duke himself ! " 
 
 The King stopped short in sudden amaze- 
 ment. 
 
 " Is the man mad ? " he asked. " Who 
 is the Grand Duke?" 
 
 " It's the Grand Duke, sire, who is with 
 the Princess. You would have killed him 
 if I had not snatched your sword," said the 
 officer, and he also came to a halt, but he 
 kept a very wary eye on King Rudolf. 
 
 " I should certainly have killed him, let 
 him be who he will," said the King. " But 
 why do you call him the Grand Duke ? " 
 
 The officer very cautiously approached 
 the King, and, seeing that the King made 
 no threatening motion, he at last trusted 
 himself so close that he could speak to the 
 King in a very low voice ; and what he said 
 seemed to astonish, please, and alnuse the 
 King immensely. For he clapped the offi- 
 cer on the back, laughed heartily, and 
 cried ; 
 
290 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 " A pretty trick ! on my life, a pretty 
 trick!" 
 
 Now Osra and her lover had not heard 
 what the officer had shouted to the King, 
 and when Osra saw her brother returning 
 from among the trees alone and with his 
 sword, she still supposed that her lover 
 must die ; so she turned and flung her arms 
 round his neck, and clung to him for a 
 moment, kissing him. Then she faced the 
 King, with a smile on her lips and the little 
 dagger in her hand. But the King came 
 up, wearing a scornful smile ; and he asked 
 her: 
 
 " What is the dagger for, my wilful sis- 
 ter?^' 
 
 " For me, if you kill him," said she. 
 
 " You will kill yourself, then, if I kill 
 him ? " 
 
 " I would not live a moment after he was 
 dead." 
 
 " Faith, it is wonderful ! " said the King 
 with a shrug. " Then plainly, if you cannot 
 live without him, you must live with him. 
 He is to be your husband, not mine. There- 
 fore take him, if you will." 
 
 When Osra heard this, which, indeed, for 
 joy and wonder she could hardly believe, 
 she dropped her dagger, and, running for- 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 291 
 
 ward, fell on her knees before her brother ; 
 catching his hand, she covered it with 
 kisses, and her tears mingled with her 
 kisses. But the King let her go on, and 
 stood over her, laughing and looking at the 
 student. Presently the student began to 
 laugh also, and he had just advanced a step 
 towards King Rudolf, when Count Sergius 
 of Antheim, the Grand Duke's ambassador, 
 came out from among the trees, riding hotly 
 and with great zeal after the noted robber. 
 But no sooner did the Count see the stu- 
 dent, than he stopped his horse, leapt down 
 with a cry of wonder, and, running up to 
 the student, bowed very low and kissed 
 his hand. So that when Osra looked 
 round from her kissing of her brother's 
 hand, she beheld [the Grand Duke's ambas- 
 sador kissing the hand of her lover. She 
 sprang to her feet in wonder. 
 
 " Who are you ? " she cried to the student, 
 running in between him and the ambassador. 
 
 " Your lover and servant," said he. 
 
 " And besides ? " she said. 
 
 " Why, in a month, your husband," 
 laughed the King, taking her lover by the 
 hand. 
 
 He clasped the King's hand, but turned 
 at once to her, saying humbly : 
 
292 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 " Alas, I have no cottage ! " 
 
 " Who are you ? " she whispered to him. 
 
 " The man for whom you were ready to 
 die, my Princess. Is it not enough ? " 
 
 " Yes, it is enough," said she ; and she 
 did not repeat her question. But the King, 
 with a short laugh, turned on his heel, and 
 taking Count Sergius by the arm walked 
 off with him ; and presently they called the 
 officer and learnt fully how the Grand Duke 
 had come to Strelsau, and how he had 
 contrived to woo and win the Princess 
 Osra, and finally to carry her off from the 
 Palace. 
 
 It was an hour later when the whole of 
 the two companies, that of the King and 
 that of the ambassador, were all gathered 
 together again, and had heard the story ; 
 so that when the King went to where Osra 
 and the Grand Duke walked together 
 among the trees, and taking each by a hand 
 led them out, they were greated with a 
 great cheer ; they mounted their horses, 
 which the Grand Duke now found without 
 any difficulty, although when the need of 
 them seemed far greater the student could 
 not contrive to come upon them ; and the 
 whole company rode together out of the 
 wood and along the road towards Strelsau, 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke. 293 
 
 the King being full of jokes and hugely 
 delighted with a trick that suited his merry 
 fancy. But before they had ridden far they 
 met the great crowd which had come out 
 from Strelsau to learn what had happened 
 to Princess Osra. And the King cried out 
 that the Grand Duke was to marry the 
 Princess, while his Guards, who had been 
 with him, and the ambassador's people, 
 spread themselves among the crowd and 
 told the story ; and when they heard it, the 
 Strelsau folk were nearly beside themselves 
 with amusement and delight, and thronged 
 round Osra, kissing her hands and blessing 
 her. The King drew back and let her and 
 the Grand Duke ride alone together, while 
 he followed with Count Sergius. Thus 
 moving at a very slow pace, they came in 
 the forenoon to Strelsau ; but some one 
 had galloped on ahead with the news, and 
 the Cathedral bells had been set ringing, 
 the streets were full, and the whole city 
 given over to excitement and rejoicing. 
 All the men were that day in love with 
 Princess Osra, and, what is more, they told 
 their sweethearts so ; and these found no 
 other revenge than to blow kisses and fling 
 flowers at the Grand Duke as he rode past 
 with Osra by his side. So they came back 
 
294 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 to the Palace, whence they had fled in the 
 early gleams of the morning's light. 
 
 It was evening and the moon rose, fair 
 and clear, over Strelsau. In the streets 
 there were sounds of merriment and rejoic- 
 ing ; every house was bright with light ; 
 the King had sent out meat and wine for 
 every soul in the city that none might be 
 sad or hungry or thirsty in all the city that 
 night ; so that there was no small uproar. 
 The King himself sat in his armchair, 
 toasting the bride and bridegroom in com- 
 pany with Count Sergius of Antheim, whose 
 dignity, somewhat wounded by the trick his 
 master had played on him, was healing 
 quickly under the balm of King Rudolf's 
 graciousness. And the King said to Count 
 Sergius : 
 
 " My lord, were you ever in love ?" 
 
 " I was, sire," said the Count. 
 
 " So was I," said the King. " Was it 
 with the Countess, my lord ? " 
 
 Count Sergius's eyes twinkled demurely, 
 but he answered : 
 
 " I take it, sire, that it must have been 
 with the Countess." 
 
 " And I take it," said the King, " that it 
 must have been with the Queen." 
 
 Then they both laughed ; and then they 
 
The Victory of thc^Grand Duke* 295 
 
 both sighed ; and the King, touching the 
 Count's elbow, pointed out to the terrace 
 of the Palace, on to which the room where 
 they were opened. For Princess Osra and 
 her lover were walking up and down to- 
 gether on this terrace. And the two 
 shrugged their shoulders, smiling. 
 
 " With him," remarked the King, " it will 
 have been with " 
 
 " The Countess, sire," discreetly inter- 
 rupted Count Sergius of Antheim. 
 
 " Why, yes, the Countess," said the King, 
 and with a laugh they turned back to their 
 wine. 
 
 But the two on the terrace also talked. 
 
 " I do not yet understand it," said Princess 
 Osra. " For on the first day I loved you, 
 and on the second day I loved you, and on 
 the third and the fourth and every day I 
 loved you. Yet the first day was not like 
 the second, nor the second like the third, 
 nor any day like any other. And to-day, 
 again, is unlike them all. Is love so various 
 and full of changes ? " 
 
 " Is it not ? " he asked with a smile. 
 " For while you were with the Queen, talk- 
 ing of I know not what 
 
 " Nor I indeed," said Osfa hastily. 
 
 " I was with the King, and he, saying 
 
296 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 that forewarned was forearmed, told me 
 very strange aud pretty stories ; of some a 
 report had reached me before " 
 
 " And yet you came to Strelsau ? " 
 
 " While of others I had not heard." 
 
 " Or you would not have come to 
 Strelsau?" 
 
 The Grand Duke, not heeding these ques- 
 tions, proceeded to his conclusion. 
 
 " Love, therefore," said he, '* is very vari- 
 ous. For M. de Merosailles " 
 
 " These are old stories," cried Osra, pre- 
 tending to stop her ears. 
 
 " Loved in one way, and Stephen the 
 smith in another, and the Miller of Hof- 
 bau in a third." 
 
 " I think," said Osra, " that I have for- 
 gotten the Miller of Hofbau. But can one 
 heart love in many different ways ? I know 
 that different men love differently." 
 
 " But cannot one heart love in different 
 ways ?" he smiled. 
 
 " May be," said Osra thoughtfully, " one 
 heart can have loved." But then she sud- 
 denly looked up at him with a mischievous 
 sparkle in her eyes. " No, no," she cried, 
 " it was not love. It was " 
 
 " What was it?" 
 
 " The courtiers entertained me till the 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 297 
 
 King came," she said, with a blushing laugh. 
 And looking up at him again she whispered, 
 4 'Yet I am glad that you lingered for a 
 little." 
 
 At this moment she saw the King come 
 out on to the terrace ; with him was the 
 Bishop of Modenstein ; and after the Bishop 
 had been presented to the Grand Duke, the 
 King began to talk with the Grand Duke, 
 while the Bishop kissed Osra's hand and 
 wished her joy. 
 
 " Madame," said he, " once you asked me 
 if I could make you understand what love 
 was. I take it you have no need for my 
 lessons now. Your teacher has come." 
 
 " Yes, he has come," she said gently, look- 
 ing at the Bishop with friendliness. " But 
 tell me, will he always love me ? " 
 
 " Surely he will," answered the Bishop. 
 
 " And tell me," said Osra, " shall I always 
 love him ? " 
 
 "Surely," said the Bishop, again most 
 courteously. "Yet indeed, madame," he 
 continued, " it would seem almost enough to 
 ask of heaven to love now and now to be 
 loved. For the years roll on, and youth 
 goes, and even the most incomparable 
 beauty will yield its blossom when the sea- 
 son wanes ; yet that sweet memory may 
 
298 The Heart of Princess Osra. 
 
 ever be fresh and young, a thing a man can 
 carry to his grave and raise as her best 
 monument on his lady's tomb." 
 
 " Ah, you speak well of love," said she. 
 " I marvel that you speak so well of love. 
 For it is as you say ; to-day in the wood it 
 seemed to me that I had lived enough, and 
 that even Death was but Love's servant as 
 Life is, and both purposed solely for his 
 better ornament." 
 
 " Men have died because they loved you, 
 madame, and some yet live who love you," 
 said the Bishop. 
 
 " And shall I grieve for both, my lord 
 or for which ? " 
 
 " For neither, madame ; the dead have 
 gained peace, and they who live have es- 
 caped forgetfulness." 
 
 " But would they not be happier for for- 
 getting ? " 
 
 " I do not think so," said the Bishop, and 
 bowing low to her again, he stood back, for 
 he saw the King approaching with the 
 Grand Duke ; the King took him by the 
 arm and walked on with him ; but Osra's 
 face lost the brief pensiveness that had come 
 upon it as she talked with the Bishop, and 
 turning to her lover, she stretched out her 
 hands to him, saying : 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 299 
 
 " I wish there was a cottage, and that you 
 worked for bread, while I made ready for 
 you at the cottage, and then ran far, far, far 
 down the road to watch and wait for your 
 coming." 
 
 " Since a cottage was not too small, a 
 palace will not be too large," said he, catch- 
 ing her in his arms. 
 
 Thus the heart of Princess Osra found its 
 haven and its rest ; for a month later she 
 was married to the Grand Duke of Mitten- 
 heim in the Cathedral of Strelsau, having 
 utterly refused to take any other place for 
 her wedding. Again she and he rode forth 
 together through the Western Gate ; and 
 the King rode with them on their way till 
 they came to the woods. Here he paused 
 and all the crowd that accompanied him 
 stopped also ; and they all waited till the 
 sombre depths of the glades hid Osra and 
 her lover from their sight. Then, leaving 
 them thus riding together to their happi- 
 ness, the people returned home, sad for the 
 loss of their darling Princess. But for conso- 
 lation, and that their minds might the less 
 feel her absence, they had her name often 
 on their lips ; and the poets and story- 
 tellers composed many stories about her, 
 not grounded on fact, as are those which 
 
300 The Heart of Princess Osra* 
 
 have been here set forth, but the fabric of 
 idle imaginings, wrought to please the fancy 
 of lovers or to wake the memories of older 
 folk. So that, if a stranger goes now to 
 Strelsau, he may be pardoned if it seem to 
 him that all mankind was in love with 
 Princess Osra. Nay, and those stories so 
 pass all fair bounds that if you listen to 
 them, you will come near to believing that 
 the Princess also had found some love for 
 all the men who had given her their love. 
 Thus to many she is less a woman who once 
 lived and breathed, than some sweet image 
 under whose name they fondly group all 
 the virtues and the charms of her whom 
 they love best, each man fashioning for 
 himself from his own chosen model her 
 whom he calls his Princess. Yet it may be 
 that for some of them who so truly loved 
 her, her heart had a moment's tenderness. 
 Who shall tell all the short-lived dreams 
 that come and go, the promptings and stir- 
 rings of a vagrant inclination ? And who 
 would pry too closely into these secret mat- 
 ters ? May we not more properly give 
 thanks to heaven that the thing is as it is ? 
 For surely it makes greatly for the increase 
 of joy and entertainment in the world, and 
 of courtesy and true tenderness, that the 
 
The Victory of the Grand Duke* 301 
 
 heart of Princess Osra or of what lady you 
 may choose, sir, to call by her name should 
 flutter in pretty hesitation here and there 
 and to and fro a little, before it flies on a 
 straight wing to its destined and desired 
 home. And if you be not the Prince for 
 your Princess, why, sir, your case is a sad 
 one. Yet there have been many such, and 
 still there is laughter as well as tears in the 
 tune to which the world spins round :-^- 
 
 But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine, 
 And many a Garden by the Water blows e 
 
 Wear your willow then, as the Marquis 
 de Merosailles wore his, lightly and yet most 
 courteously ; or like the Bishop of Moden- 
 stein (for so some say), with courage and 
 self-mastery. That is, if wear it you must. 
 You remember what the Miller of Hofbau 
 thought ? 
 
AN INTERESTING ANNOUNCEMENT* 
 
 The most important work from the pen of ANTHONY HOPE 
 
 since the publication of " The Prisoner of Zenda," 
 
 is to be entitled 
 
 "PHROSO" 
 
 and is to be issued early in J897. 
 
 IT IS OF THE SAME GENERAL NATURE AS "THE 
 PRISONER OF ZENDA," BUT SURPASSES jt jt ji # 
 jl # jl j* j* THE LATTER IN MANY RESPECTS. 
 
 The hero is a young English lord of to-day a man of the 
 same stamp as Rudolph Rassendyl ; while the heroine is the lady 
 Euphrosyne (Phroso) of Neopolia and more than equals Flavia 
 in courage, interest and charm* 
 
 Henry B. Weschler has spent nearly a year upon 
 the numerous illustrations, working from the model 
 and making use of a collection of Greek costumes, 
 weapons, etc. 
 
 The book will be published at $1.50 and will be well printed and 
 
 bound ; and an extraordinary success is expected 
 
 by its publishers. 
 
 FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY, 
 NEW YORK. 
 

14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWEI 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 RenewJ$J?ooks are subject to immediate recall. 
 
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 REC'D LD 
 
 MAR 3 1962 
 
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