"You will marry the Countess?"
"Can I disobey the King, madame?"
"I am very sorry for her," said the Princess. "A lady of her rank should not be forced to marry a silversmith."
"Indeed I thought so all along. Therefore——"
"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, Stephen?" sighed the Princess; and there was no more of the veil left than served to frame the picture of her face.
"So soon as you have refused me the third time, madame," bowed the smith.