“A lady of the household!” cried Cyril. “But I thought——”
“That I was in love with the Princess? But, my dear friend, a screen is sometimes necessary. At any rate, both the Queen and the Princess know the truth now.”
“Then I suppose that’s the secret of the snubbing you got the other night? It certainly was tremendous. I was really sorry for you.”
“Well,” pursued the Prince, “the Queen has treated me better than I could have dared to hope. She is so good as to give her sanction to my plans for a private marriage to-night.”
“But why private?” asked Cyril.
“My friend, I have Ministers, who interest themselves unduly in my affairs at times. I wish to present my marriage to them as an accomplished fact.”
“I see; and no doubt the Queen thinks that a public wedding might encourage the rest of her ladies to go and do likewise, a consummation which would scarcely meet her views. Well, if the ruling power is so propitious, why don’t you go in and win?”
“That is all that I desire. I have everything prepared at my summer-palace five miles away, the chapel ready, witnesses, Greek and Lutheran clergy to perform the ceremony. But how shall I reach my bride? King Johann has peopled the forest in the neighbourhood of the castle with gamekeepers and frontier-guards, and if I am seen, all is lost. The news would be carried to him immediately, and he bears such a grudge against me that he would spare no pains to discover my object and to thwart it.”
“But still, I don’t see what you want me to do,” said Cyril.
“Merely this, to bring my bride from the castle, and escort her to me here. I have two good horses waiting, one with a lady’s saddle, and it will not take you long.”