“And then?”
“Then I determined to follow his example. Then I preached a long sermon to my foolish eyes—they were misty with tears. Listen, I said to them: ‘You foolish things you have no reason to weep; you should always look bright and dazzling, even if you never see Prince Henry again. Really, the absence of the prince has been most fortunate for you. You might have whispered all kinds of foolish things to my weak heart. The prince is young, handsome, and amiable, and it amuses him to win the love of fair ladies. Had you seen him more frequently, it is possible he might have succeeded with poor Louise, and the little flirtation we carried on together would have resulted in earnest love on my part. That would have been a great misfortune. Laugh and look joyous, beautiful eyes, you have saved me from an unrequited love. You should not weep, but rejoice. Look around and find another suitor, who would, perhaps, love me so fondly that he could not forget me in a few days; whose love I might return with ardor.’ This, my prince, is the sermon I preached to my eyes when they grew dim with tears.”
“And was your sermon effective?” said the prince, with pale, trembling lips. “Did your eyes, those obedient slaves, look around and find another lover?”
“Ah! your highness, how can you doubt it? My eyes are indeed my slaves, and must obey. Yes, they looked and found the happiness they sought.”
“What happiness,” asked Henry, apparently quite tranquil, but he pressed his hand nervously on the chair that stood by him—“what happiness did your eyes find?”
Louise looked at him and sighed deeply. “The happiness,” she said, and against her will her voice trembled and faltered—“the happiness that a true, earnest love alone can give—which I have received joyously into my heart as a gift from God.”
The prince laughed aloud, but his face had a wild, despairing expression, and his hands clasped the chair more firmly.
“I do not understand your holy, pious words. What do they mean? What do you wish to say?”
“They mean that I now love so truly and so earnestly that I have promised to become the wife of the man I love,” said Louise, with forced gayety.
The prince uttered a wild cry, and raised his hands as if to curse the one who had wounded him so painfully.