"A dream? What was it?" The fan was waving to and fro.
"I dreamed that a Princess came in Gretchen's place, and she threw her arms around my neck and kissed me of her own free will."
"And what did she say, Herr?" Certainly the voice was growing more like Gretchen's.
I hesitated. To tell her what the dream Princess had said would undo all I had thus far accomplished, which was too little.
"It will not interest Your Highness," said I.
"Tell me what she said; I command it!" And now I was sure that there was a falter in her voice.
"She said—she said that she loved me."
"Continue."
"And that, as she was a Princess and—and honor bound, it could never be." I had to say it.
"That is it; that is it. It could never be. Gretchen is no more. The
Princess who, you say, came to you in a dream was then but a woman—"