"Thank you, but Mr. Pembroke has promised to do that." And then she
added: "So you have really had two romances?"
"Yes," said I; "and both ended badly."
"Let us hope that the third will be of happier termination," she
smiled. The smile caused me some uneasiness.
"There never will be a third," I said. "It is strange, is it not, when
you think that there might have been--but one? You will give me a
waltz to-night?"
"With pleasure. Good morning."
Pembroke and I passed down the broad stairs. On the street we walked a
block or so in silence.
Finally Pembroke said: "What the deuce made you step on my foot? And
why does she not want me to know that she was in Vienna last winter?"
"Because," said I, "Miss Landors never was in Vienna."
"But, man, my eyes!"
"I do not care anything about your eyes."
"What makes you so positive?"
"Knowledge."
"Do you love her?" bluntly.
"No."
"Because--?"
"There is another. Pembroke, to-night will be pregnant with
possibilities. You will see the woman you love and the woman I love."
"What do you mean?"
"Have you ever heard of her Serene Highness the Princess Hildegarde of
Hohenphalia?"
"So high?"
"Yes."
"Then the woman I saw in Vienna--"
"Was the Princess."
"But this remarkable likeness?"
"Perhaps I had best tell you all." And when I had done, his
astonishment knew no bounds.
"Great George, that makes Miss Landors a Princess, too!"
"It does, truly. Herein lies the evil of loving above one's station.
In our country love is like all things, free to obtain. We are in a
country which is not free. Here, those who appear to have the greatest
liberty have the least."
"And she knows nothing about it?"
"Nothing."
"Why tell her?" he asked, fearful of his own love affair now.
"It is a duty. Some day she might learn too late. This afternoon I
shall visit the Chancellor and place the matter before him and ask his
assistance. He must aid me to find the proofs."
Pembroke began kicking the snow with his toes.
"I wish you had not told me, Jack."
"It is for the best. You and I are in the same boat; we ride or sink
together."