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

CHAPTER IV
BABES IN THE WOOD
While the feet of the Prince continued to run
swiftly, his heart, which had at first by far out-
stripped his running, soon began to linger and hang
back. Not that he ceased to pity the misfortune or
to yearn for the sight of Seraphina ; but the memory
of her obdurate coldness awoke within him, and
woke in turn his own habitual diffidence of self.
Had Sir John been given time to tell him all, had he
even known that she was speeding to the Felsen-
burg, he would have gone to her with ardour. As
it was, he began to see himself once more intruding,
profiting, perhaps, by her misfortune, and now that
she was fallen, proffering unloved caresses to the
wife who had spurned him in prosperity. The sore
spots upon his vanity began' to burn ; once more, his
anger assumed the carriage of a hostile generosity ;
he would utterly forgive indeed ; he would help,
save, and comfort his unloving wife ; but all with
distant self-denial, imposing silence on his heart,
respecting Seraphina's disaffection as he would the
250