The maid of honour wheeled round with her arch, inscrutable smile.
“Oh!” she said, “believe me, you have answered me very well. I was already convinced of the sincerity and ardour of your attachment to ... her Highness—so convinced, indeed, that I am here to-night for the sole purpose of helping both you and her to your most insane of marriages. The Princess is accustomed to rely upon me for everything, and upon me, therefore, falls the whole burden of preparation and responsibility. Whether the end of all this will be a dungeon for the lady-in-waiting, if indeed the Duke does not have her executed for high treason, is naturally a contingency which neither of you will consider worth a moment’s thought. It is quite certain, however, that without me you would both do something inconceivably stupid, and ruin all. But, voyons, Monsieur de Jennico,” she went on with sudden gravity of demeanour, “this is no time for pleasantry. It is a very serious matter. You are wasting precious moments in a singularly light-hearted fashion, it seems to me.”
The reproach came well from her! But she left me no time to protest.
“I am here,” she said, “as you know, to tell you what the Princess has decided, and how we must act if the whole thing is not to fail. First of all, the arrival of some important person from the Court of Lausitz may take place any day, and then—’Bonjour!’” She blew an airy kiss and waved her hand, while with a cold thrill I realised the irrefutable truth of her words.
“If it is to be,” she went on, unconsciously repeating almost the exact text of her mistress’s letter to me, “it must be at once and in secret. Mind, not a word to a soul till all is accomplished! On your honour I lay it! And she, her Highness, enjoins it upon you not to betray her to any single human being before you have acquired the right to protect her. It is surely not too much to ask!”
She spoke with deep solemnity, and yet characteristically cut short my asseverations.
“And, that being settled, and you being willing to take this lady for your wife,—probably without a stiver, and certainly with her father’s curse” (I smiled proudly in the arrogance of my heart: all Duke as he was I did not doubt, once the first storm over, but that my exalted father-in-law would find very extenuating circumstances for his wilful daughter’s choice).—“that being settled,” continued Miss Ottilie, “it only remains to know—are you prepared to enter the marriage state two nights hence?”
“I wish,” said I, and could not keep the note of exultation from my voice at having the rare prize thus actually within my reach—“I wish you would ask me for some harder proof of my complete devotion to her Highness.”
“Well, then,” she said hastily, whispering as if the pines could overhear us, “so be it! I have not been idle to-day, and I have laid the plot. You know the little church in that wretched village of Wilhelmsdhal we posted through two days ago? The priest there is very old and very poor and like a child, because he has always lived among the peasants; and now indeed he is almost too old to be their priest any more. I saw him to-day, and told him that two who loved each other were in great straits because people wanted to wed the maiden to a bad and cruel man,—that is true, Monsieur de Jennico,—I told him that these two would die of grief, or lose their souls, perhaps, were they separated, because of the love they bore each other.... There, sir, I permitted myself a poetical license! To be brief, I promised him in your name what seemed a great sum for his poor, a thousand thalers—you will see to that—and he has promised me to wed you on Wednesday night, at eight of the clock, secretly, in his poor little church. He is so old and so simple it was like misleading a child, but nevertheless, the cause being good, I trust I may be forgiven. Drive straight to the church, and there you will find one who will direct you. The Princess will not see you again till she meets you before the altar. You will bring her home to your castle. A maid will accompany her. And that is all. Adieu, Monsieur de Jennico.”