Fiction > Book editions > London, 1888 - Prince Otto

A ROMANCE 171
l)efore many words, the money was accepted.
Between the woman and the weak man such
was the inevitable end. Madame von Eos en
instantly composed her sobs. She thanked him
with a fluttering voice, and resumed her place
upon the bench at the far end from Otto. ' Now
you see,' she said, ' why I bade you keep the
thief at distance, and why I came alone. How
I trembled for my treasure ! '
'Madam,' said Otto, with a tearful whimper
in his voice, ' spare me ! You are too good, too
noble ! '
' I wonder to hear you,' she returned. ' You
have avoided a great folly. You will be able to
meet your good old peasant. You have found
an excellent investment for a friend's money.
You have preferred essential kindness to an
empty scruple ; and now you are ashamed of it !
You have made your friend happy ; and now
you mourn as the dove ! Come, cheer up. I
know it is depressing to have done exactly
right ; but you need not make a practice of it.
Forgive yourself this virtue ; come now, look
me in the face and smile ! '
He did look at her. When a man has
been embraced by a woman, he sees her in a
glamour ; and at such a time, in the baffling
glimmer of the stars, she will look wildly well.
The hair is touched with light ; the eyes are