“I still love Ernestine—have always loved her—though I own that for a few days I thought I should be glad never to see her again. She thwarted me, and at the time I could think of nothing but punishing her. I won’t cant and say that I suffered as much as she did; but when I turned my back on her, I punished myself. The want of her has tormented me ever since.”
“And now you are making love to her cousin!”
“I see you don’t understand me yet, Princess. I cherish a hope—a dream, you may call it—of finding my way some day to Ernestine, and entreating her forgiveness—her compassion. But something else must come first.”
“And what is that?”
“The woman who separated us has to be dealt with.”
“You are deliberately deceiving the unhappy creature?”
“You will make me conceited, Princess. Is it for me to plume myself upon having produced an impression upon the heart of her Royal Highness?”
The Princess waived the evasion away impatiently. “You are seeking to revenge yourself upon a woman.”
“When a woman has twice pitted her wits successfully against mine, Princess, she is entitled to be treated as a man.”
“But who are you, to revenge yourself upon her?”