"Why—what has he said?"
"Not a word that any one might not have listened to. But I know. He does care; and I think he will say something before we part."
"There is only one day more of his visit here, after to-night."
"One whole, long, beautiful day—together!"
"But after all, darling," ventured the Grand Duchess, "what do you expect? If you were really only Miss de Courcy, marriage between you and the Emperor of Rhaetia would be out of the question. You've never been very communicative on this subject, but I wish I knew exactly what you hope for, what you will consider the—the keystone of the situation?"
"Only for him to tell me that he loves me," Sylvia confessed. "If I am right—if I have brought something new into his life—something which has shown him that he has a heart as well as a head—then there will come a moment when he can keep silent no longer, when he will have to say, 'I love you', and because we can be nothing to each other day is 155 turned into night for me. Then—when that moment comes—the tide of my fortune will be at its flood. I shall tell him that I love him, too—and—I shall tell him all the truth."
"You will tell him who you really are?"
"Yes; and why I have been masquerading. That it was because he had always been the one man on earth for me; because, when our marriage was suggested, I would win his love first as a woman, or I would live single all my days."
"What if he should be angry and refuse to forgive you? You know, dear, we shall be in a curious position, at best, when the truth comes out, having made our acquaintances here under the name of De Courcy. Even Lady West, so dear a friend, so romantic a heart, was uncomfortable about the letters. She only eased her conscience because our real position in the world was much higher than the one we assumed; therefore, those to whom we were introduced would be but too pleased to know us in our own characters at the end. Yet Maximilian is a man, not a romantic woman; he has always borne a reputation for 156 austerity, for being just before he was generous, and it may be that to one of his nature a mad prank like this of yours——"
"You think of him as he was, not as he is, if you fancy he would be hard with—a woman he loved," said Sylvia. "He will forgive me, mother; I have no fear of that. To-night, I have no fear of anything. He loves me—and I am Empress of the world."