“Shocked?”
“I think,” said Hilda, grinning, “that you are going to marry me.”
“Delightful!”
“And we are going to have—”
“Hilda!” cried the Archduchess fretfully. “Do stop that nonsense and let us talk. I was trying to recall, this morning,” she said to Karl, “when you last visited us.” She knew it quite well, but she preferred having Karl think she had forgotten. “It was, I believe, just before Hubert—”
“Yes,” said Karl gravely, “just before.”
“Otto was a baby then.”
“A very small child. I remember that I was afraid to handle him.”
“He is a curious boy, old beyond his years. Rather a little prig, I think. He has an English governess, and she has made him quite a little woman.”
Karl laughed, but Hedwig flushed.