“Alors,” she broke in fiercely, her voice shaking with passion, “you know what an ignoble canaille is this young man, without even enough decency of feeling to respect the troops of whom he has demanded such bloody sacrifices. At Metz we were near enough to the fighting to realize the blood and tears of this war. But the Prince thought of nothing, but his own amusement. To live as he did, within sound of the guns, with parties every night, women and dancing and roulette and champagne suppers—bah! c’était trop fort! It awakened in me the love of country which lies dormant in all of us. I wanted to help my country, lest I might sink as low as he...”
“One day the Prince brought a young officer friend of his to dine with me. This officer had come from the Eastern front and had been present at the capture of Warsaw. After dinner he took a leather case out of his pocket and said to the Prince: ‘I have brought your Imperial Highness a little souvenir from Poland!’ As he spoke he touched a spring and the case flew open, displaying an enormous diamond, nearly as big as the great Orloff diamond which I have seen at Petrograd, surrounded by five other brilliants, the whole set like a star.
“‘The Star of Poland,’ said the young officer (the Prince called him ‘Erich;’ I never heard his full name), ‘it comes from the long-lost Coronation sword of the Polish kings. I took it for your Imperial Highness from the Château of John Sobieski at Villanoff.
“I could not take my eyes off the gem. As the Prince held it down under the lamp to study it, it shone like an electric light. I had met many of my fellow countrymen in America and I had often heard of this jewel, famous in our unhappy history.
“The Prince, who was gay with champagne, laughed and said:
“‘These lousy Poles will have no further use for this pretty trinket, thanks to our stout German blows, will they, Erich?’
“And his friend replied:
“‘We’ll give them a nice new German constitution instead, your Imperial Highness!’
“The Prince, as I have said, was very merry that night. He let me take the jewel from its case and hold it in my hands. Then I fastened it in my hair before the mirror and turned to show myself to the Prince and his companion.
“‘Donnerwetter! said Willie. ‘It looks wonderful in your hair, Marcelle!’