'That I am sure of; yet I might never have known it but for you.'
'I did for the best.'
'I will send him to you. I want to be alone a little. Dear mother, he cares for you as tenderly as though he were your son.'
'I have been his friend always,' said the Princess, with a smile, whilst the tears still stood in her eyes. 'You cannot say so much, Wanda; you were very harsh.'
'I know it. I will atone to him.'
The eyes of the Princess followed her tenderly.'
'And she will make her atonement generously, grandly,' she thought. 'She is a woman of few protestations, but of fine impulses and of unerring magnanimity. She will be incapable of reminding him that their kingdom is hers. I have done this thing; may Heaven be with it! If she had loved no one, life would have grown so pale, so chill, so monotonous to her; she would have tired of herself, having nothing but herself for contemplation. Solitude has been only grand to her hitherto because she has been young, but as the years rolled on she would have died without ever having lived; now she will live. She may have to bear pains, griefs, infidelities, calamities that she would have escaped; but even so, how much better the summer day, even with the summer storm, than the dull, grey, quiet, windless weather! Of course, if she could have found sanctuary in the Church——But her faith is not absolute and unwavering enough for that; she has read too many philosophies; she requires, too, open-air and vigorous life; the cloister would have been to her a prison. She is one of those whose religion lies in activity; she will worship God through her children.'
Sabran entered as she mused, and knelt down before her.
'You have been my good angel, always,' he murmured. 'How can I thank you? I think she would never have let her eyes rest on me but for you.'
The Princess smiled.