Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 9, 1895 - Romances Volume II

CHAPTER XIII
PROVIDENCE VON ROSEN I ACT THE THIRD
SHE ENLIGHTENS SERAPHINA
When Madame von Rosen left the Prince, she
hurried straight to Colonel Gordon ; and not content
with directing the arrangements, she had herself
accompanied the soldier of fortune to the Flying
Mercury. The Colonel gave her his arm, and the
talk between this pair of conspirators ran high and
lively. The Countess, indeed, was in a whirl of
pleasure and excitement ; her tongue stumbled upon
laughter, her eyes shone, the colour that was usually
wanting now perfected her face. It would have
taken little more to bring Gordon to her feet — or so,
at least, she believed, disdaining the idea.
Hidden among some lilac bushes, she enjoyed the
great decorum of the arrest, and heard the dialogue
of the two men die away along the path. Soon
after, the rolling of a carriage and the beat of hoofs
arose in the still air of the night, and passed speedily
farther and fainter into silence. The Prince was gone.
Madame von Rosen consulted her watch. She
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