"I write, but she acts. I dream and think; but she teaches the children, though it be with the aid of a priest; she feeds and houses old men and women."
Then, in her room, looking out at the lake under the summer night all dusted with stars, she reflected that she too would like to be rich and to have a wide field of labour. For now she had no field, now she had no money and now ... now she longed only for Duco; and he must not leave her too long alone in this castle, amid all this sombre greatness, which oppressed her as with the weight of the centuries.
CHAPTER XXXVI
Next morning Urania's maid was showing Cornélie through a maze of galleries to the garden, where breakfast was to be served, when she met Gilio on the stairs. The maid turned back.
"I still need a guide to find my way," Cornélie laughed.
He grunted some reply.
"How did you sleep, prince?"
He gave another grunt.
"Look here, prince, there must be an end of this ill-temper of yours. Do you hear? It's got to finish. I insist. I won't have any more sulking to-day; and I hope that you'll go back to your cheerful, witty style of conversation as soon as possible, for that's what I like in you."