She shook her head mournfully, and rose from her knees.
"Make me happy?" echoed she. "For me there can be no happiness while
Poland sorrows."
"Say that again," thundered the emperor, "and we part forever!"
"I say it again!" said she, with proud tranquillity, but pale as death.
"And yet, if I am not ready to sacrifice my own people for yours, you will not believe in my love! You are unwilling to give up an idle dream of Polish freedom; and you ask of me, a man and an emperor, that I shall bring to you the offering of my own honor and of my people's happiness!"
She said nothing.
"It is enough!" cried Joseph, his eyes flashing with anger. "Pride against pride! We part. For the first thing I require of a woman who loves me, is submission. It grieves me bitterly to find you so unwomanly. I would have prized your love above every earthly blessing, had you given it freely. Conditionally I will not accept it; above all, when its conditions relate to the government of my empire. No woman shall ever have a voice in my affairs of state. If, for that reason, she reject me, I must submit; although, as at this moment, my heart bleeds at her rejection."
"And mine? MY HEART?" exclaimed the countess, raising her tearful eyes to his.
"Pride will cure you," replied he, with a bitter smile. "Go back to your fatherland that you love so well and I shall imitate you, and turn to mine for comfort. There is many a mourning heart in Austria less haughty than yours, to which, perchance, I may be able to bring joy or consolation. God grant me some compensation in life for the supreme misery of this hour! Farewell, Countess Wielopolska. To-night I leave Vienna."
He crossed the room, while she looked after him as though her lips were parting to utter a cry.