He held out his hand, smiling, and she took it frankly. “I vow you have bewitched me,” she said; and then with a laugh, “I break my staff“! she added; “and I must pay you my best compliment. You made a difficult speech. You are as adroit, dear Prince, as I am—charming.” And as she said the word with a great curtsey, she justified it.
“You hardly keep the bargain, madam, when you make yourself so beautiful,” said the Prince, bowing.
“It was my last arrow,” she returned. “I am disarmed. Blank cartridge, O mon Prince! And now I tell you, if you choose to leave this prison, you can, and I am ruined. Choose!”
“Madame von Rosen,” replied Otto, “I choose, and I will go. My duty points me, duty still neglected by this Featherhead. But do not fear to be a loser. I propose instead that you should take me with you, a bear in chains, to Baron Gondremark. I am become perfectly unscrupulous: to save my wife I will do all, all he can ask or fancy. He shall be filled; were he huge as leviathan and greedy as the grave, I will content him. And you, the fairy of our pantomime, shall have the credit.”
“Done!” she cried. “Admirable! Prince Charming no longer—Prince Sorcerer, Prince Solon! Let us go this moment. Stay,” she cried, pausing. “I beg, dear Prince, to give you back these deeds. ’Twas you who liked the farm—I have not seen it; and it was you who wished to benefit the peasants. And, besides,” she added, with a comical change of tone, “I should prefer the ready money.”
Both laughed. “Here I am, once more a farmer,” said Otto, accepting the papers, “but overwhelmed in debt.”
The Countess touched a bell, and the Governor appeared.
“Governor,” she said, “I am going to elope with his Highness. The result of our talk has been a thorough understanding, and the coup d’état is over. Here is the order.”
Colonel Gordon adjusted silver spectacles upon his nose. “Yes,” he said, “the Princess: very right. But the warrant, madam, was countersigned.”