Fiction > Book editions > London, 1888 - Prince Otto

192 PRINCE OTTO
' Anna, the devil take you, are you blind ? '
cried Gondremark. 'You know me. Am I
likely to care for such a preciosa ? 'Tis hard
that we should have been together for so long,
and you should still take me for a troubadour.
But if there is one thing that I despise and de-
precate, it is all such hgures in Berhn wooh
Give me a human woman — like myself. You
are my mate ; you were made for me ; you
amuse me like the play. And what have I to
gain that I should pretend to you ? If I do not
love you, what use are you to me ? Why, none.
It is as clear as noonday.'
' Do you love me, Heinrich ? ' she asked,
languishing. ' Do you truly ? '
' I tell you,' he cried, ' I love you next after
myself. I should be all abroad if I had lost you.'
' Well, then,' said she, folding up the paper
and putting it calmly in her pocket, ' I will be-
lieve you, and I join the plot. Count upon me.
At midnight, did you say.^ It is Gordon, I see,
that you have charged with it. Excellent ; he
will stick at nothing.'
Gondremark watched her suspiciously.
' Why do you take the paper ? ' he demanded.
' Give it here.'
' 1^0,' she returned ; ' I mean to keep it. It
is I who must prepare the stroke ; you cannot
manage it without me ; and to do my best I