Clara (in alarm). No!
Princess. You will be received with hisses, hooting—perhaps with stone throwing. You didn't expect anything like that, did you?
Clara. No.
Princess. What shall you do?
Clara (after a moment, quietly). I shall go with the King.
Princess. A nice road you are dragging him along, truly! And I assure you that the farther you go along it, the worse it will become. You cannot possibly have prepared yourself for all that you will have to go through.
Clara. I think I have.
Princess (in surprise). What do you mean? How?
Clara (bending her head). I have prayed to God.
Princess. Pshaw! I mean that you cannot have considered the misery into which you are dragging the King—and the disgrace and trouble you are bringing upon all his people. (CLARA is silent.) You are young still; your heart cannot be altogether hardened yet, whatever your past may have been.