The Princess remained a moment in silent thought. Then she broke out into her merriest laugh.
"We are building castles in the air," she hastened to say. "Yes, I promise—on those conditions. But you perceive the badness of the bargain you are making? A marriage that will be no marriage—a contract that will not be worth the paper it is written on?"
"I will chance its validity."
"In that event and on those conditions you shall have my hand."
The Princess stretched forth her right hand.
Trafford took it and pressed his lips to it.
"And heart?" he demanded.
As in the Thiergarten with Von Hügelweiler, the Princess Gloria hesitated momentarily, but long enough for the framing of a lie. But this time something strangled the conceived falsehood before it passed her lips.
"Alas!" she faltered. "Nature forgot to give me a heart." The words were seriously enough spoken, but somehow they did not ring true to him.
"You are incapable of love?" he asked.