He was up, with his arms folding round her. "Child, it is only for your sake. Listen to me. I married your mother because I loved her and she loved me. The case is isolated, rare, out of the beaten path in the affairs of rulers. But you, you must be a princess. You must steel your heart against the invasion of love, unless it comes from a state equal or superior to your own. It is harsh and cruel, but it is a law that will neither bend nor break. Do you understand me?"
The girl stared blindly at the wall. "Yes, father."
"It is all my fault," said the duke, deeply agitated, for the girl trembled under his touch.
"I shall not ride with him any more."
"There's a good girl," patting her shoulder.
"I have been a princess such a little while."
He kissed the wheaten-colored hair. "Be a brave heart, and I shall engage to find a king for you."
"I don't want any playthings, father," with the old light touch; and then she looked him full in the eyes. "I promise to do nothing more to create comment if, on the other hand, you will promise to give me two years more of freedom."
The duke readily assented, and shortly returned to his own suite, rather pleased that there had been no scene; not that he had expected any.
Now that she was alone, she slipped into the chair, beat a light tattoo with her riding-whip against her teeth, and looked fixedly at the wall again, as if to gaze beyond it, into the dim future. But she saw nothing save that she was young and that the days in Dresden, for all their penury, were far pleasanter than these.