“No doubt. But she is a little out in her calculations. There is another alternative, and it is in your hands. It lies with you to save the situation, Ernestine. Refuse your consent to the marriage. Break with the Princess openly, and take measures to remove Michael from her influence. Your family and the Schwarzwald-Molzaus will back you up, and the Emperors will see fair play.”
“But I have told you I cannot do it, Cyril. I cannot break the children’s hearts.”
“No one wishes you to break their hearts. All that you have to do is gently to guide their vagrant fancies into the right direction. In so doing you will checkmate the Princess and rescue Michael from her clutches. He will see the world a little, and come back to you free from the trammels of his adoration for her; and she, like a wise woman, will have found another match for Princess Lida. Come, I’ll undertake to pull the matter through. You understand? You must do it.”
“Cyril, I can’t. The thought of the children’s misery would haunt me ever after.”
“Nonsense! Michael will be the first to thank you when he is settled down with a quiet, good-tempered girl as a wife, instead of the pretty little intriguer whom your cousin has so carefully trained up to follow in her own footsteps. As for the girl, there is no heart on her side of the question. She is simply doing as her mother tells her. This is not a matter of choice, Ernestine. You must do as I advise you, and there is no time for thinking about it.”
“Oh, Cyril, wait!” She came close to him, and laid her hands on his arm. “I cannot do it; I am pledged both to Michael and Ottilie. I would save you if I could, but not in this way—anything but this. Explain to the Emperors how the matter stands, and resign at once. Then I will marry you next week, and we will leave Thracia—leave Michael to be happy. If you will give up office for me, I will give him up for you—if I can do it knowing that all is well with him. We love each other; we will live somewhere quietly, and forget politics. Am I not enough for you?”
“Good heavens, Ernestine, you would drive a man mad! Well, if you must have an answer, you are not enough, if Thracia has to be left to the Princess and to Scythia, and all my work undone.”
“Cyril, I have obeyed you, yielded to you, given up so much for you already. Give up this for me.”
“It is impossible, Ernestine. You must choose between your boy and me.”