CHAPTER XXV
THE POOR DEAR PRINCE
"You have something to tell me: what is it?" asked Prince Theobald, as he entered Eveline's drawing-room in answer to a letter from her, written after her interview with her husband.
"I wish to leave Vienna."
"Ah! this is sudden. And where are you going?"
"My husband is obliged to go to Paris. I am going with him."
The prince looked inquiringly at her. "Have you, then, grown tired of being under my care?"
"I am afraid I cannot deny it. I am like a slave in a gilded cage. I am a sort of prisoner, and I want to see life."
"You repent, then, of the promise you made me? Well, then, I release you; but stay with me."
"I should be too proud to receive benefits from any one to whom I am ungrateful. Besides, it would be enough for me to know that you are the master of the palace to take all sense of freedom from me. I don't want to receive any more favors."