III
"My romance is over, my April dream is ended," said the Princess, with an air, perhaps a feint, of listless melancholy, to Frau Brandt.
"What mean you?" asked Frau Brandt, unmoved.
"My cobbler's son has disappeared—has vanished in a blaze of glory," her Serene Highness explained, and laughed.
"I don't understand," said Frau Brandt. "He has not left Sant' Alessina?"
"No, but he isn't a cobbler's son at all—he's merely been masquerading as one—his name is not Brown, Jones, or Robinson—his name is the high-sounding name of Blanchemain, and he's heir to an English peerage."
"Ah, so? He is then noble?" Frau Brandt inferred, raising her eyes, with satisfaction.
"As noble as need be. An English peer is marriageable. So here's adieu to my cottage in the air."
"Here's good riddance to it," said Frau Brandt.