CHAPTER XI
HERMENGARDE DROPS A HINT
If Dorothea had consulted some of those familiar with the Court, as to which of her various friends she would be least wise to trust in, the answer in almost every case would have been—the Princess Hermengarde. Nevertheless, it was to the Princess she fled from the new complexities which beset her life at the forester’s lodge.
Though far from expecting her invitation to be so promptly accepted, Hermengarde had been careful to leave instructions that Dorothea should be admitted to her at any time when she might present herself. When, therefore, the exhausted and trembling girl arrived at the Castle after her flight through the forest, she found no difficulties in the way of her entrance.
The hour was half-past ten, which was not quite so late in the palace as in the cottage, and Hermengarde, when Dorothea was announced, was sitting alone with her son, whom she was trying to interest in a game of draughts. In this her success had been doubtful, for the boy was staring blankly at the board, where two solitary men, who formed the survivors of his own army, were being pursued to their doom by a whole troop of kings in his mother’s service. He was yawning audibly between the moves, and welcomed the interruption caused by the new arrival by a loud sigh of relief.
“Let the Fräulein come in here,” said Hermengarde to the page in attendance. And Dorothea entered.
As she came in, Ernest turned round in natural curiosity to see what she was like. The result seemed to be satisfactory, for he got up and offered her his hand, to the surprise of his mother.
Dorothea, unused to the ways of Courts, took the young Prince’s hand unaffectedly in her own, and by that simple act confirmed the good impression.
“This is my son, Prince Ernest Leopold,” observed Hermengarde, with the slightest possible emphasis on the “Prince.”
Dorothea shrank back a little and blushed. The Princess good-naturedly reassured her.
“But I hope you will be good friends. Sit down here by me, and tell me why you have come. Ernest you can say good night.”