“I am quite content to let the matter rest, Ottilie; but if you will make me speak, I must say that I have heard nothing definitely, for my mother would never permit the affair to be discussed in my hearing. Still, I gathered from stray remarks and hints let drop by different people that you had—well, formed an attachment for a gentleman not of royal blood, and that when your parents expressed their disapproval you eloped with him, but were brought back before you could reach a place of safety, and that afterwards you were married to the Prince of Dardania.”
“Your story is most circumstantial and most romantic, Nestchen, but unfortunately it has got hopelessly mixed. I did run away to be married; but it was not with Lord Caerleon, and I was not brought back, for I was safely married, and to Alexis Alexievitch. He was the lover of whom my parents disapproved, whereas I was engaged to Lord Caerleon with their full knowledge and approval.”
“You ran away with the Prince of Dardania?” cried the Queen, horror and astonishment struggling in her voice.
“I did, indeed; but you seem to think that makes things worse instead of better.”
“Oh no; not at all—— But surely it was unnecessary? And are you in earnest when you say that your parents approved of Lord Caerleon’s attachment?”
“Poor Lord Caerleon can scarcely be said to have been attached to me. As I said just now, he preferred another lady, and was determined to marry no one else. The attachment was a political expedient, devised by his brother and Drakovics; but my father was delighted with the idea, and all the Schwarzwald-Molzaus honoured it with their approval.”
“Impossible, Ottilie!”
“I am telling you the truth. Carlino was King of Thracia then, you must remember.”
“Oh, that makes a difference, of course. A crowned and anointed King——”
“Carlino was neither. He had not been crowned at the time, and as matters turned out, he never was to be. If I had married him, however, I think I may say that your husband would never have sat upon the Thracian throne, Ernestine.”