“Not for thirty-two years,” said the Princess. “I know exactly.”
“Why now?” asked Annette von Arlestein.
“Have you forgotten him?” counter-questioned Sophia Dorothea.
“No.”
“You remember it all?”
“All!”
“It seems very near to-night,” said the Princess.
“Yes, I thought so too.”
The old woman broke her invariable custom and laid her sewing down in her lap and looked at her mistress.
“Perhaps death is coming to one of us,” added Sophia Dorothea. “We are both old. My death would be a relief to a great many. Even you would not be sorry, Annette.”