Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Prince Otto

228 PRINCE OTTO
upon the floor, moved her to such laughter as
•we laugh in nightmares.
' shame ! ' she cried. ' Absurd and odious !
What would the Countess say ? '
Til at great Baron Gondremark, the excellent
politician, remained for some little time upon
his knees in a frame of mind which perhaps
we are allowed to pity. His vanity, within his
iron bosom, bled and raved. If he could have
blotted all, if he could have withdrawn part, if
he had not called her bride — with a roaring in
his ears, he thus regretfully reviewed his de-
claration. He got to his feet tottering; and
then, in that first moment when a dumb agony
finds a vent in words, and the tongue betrays
the inmost and worst of a man, he permitted
himself a retort which, for six weeks to follow,
he was to repent at leisure.
' Ah,' said he, ' the Countess ? Now I per-
ceive the reason of your Highness's disorder.'
The lackey-like insolence of the words was
driven home by a more insolent manner. There
fell upon Serapliina one of those storm-clouds
which had already blackened upon her reason ;
she heard herself cry out ; and when the cloud
dispersed, flung the blood-stained dagger on the
floor, and saw Gondremark reeling back with
open mouth and clapping his hand upon the
wound. The next moment, with oaths that she