"Ah, that I might oftener incur such punishment!"
"Do you then prefer punishment to reward?" asked Elizabeth, tenderly
bending down to him and looking deep into his eyes.
"She loves him!" whispered Grunstein to the chamberlain Woronzow. "She
certainly loves him!"
Elizabeth's fine ear caught these words, and, slowly turning her head,
she slightly nodded. "Yes," said she, "Grunstein is right--she loves
him! Congratulate me, therefore, my friends, that the desert void in my
heart is at length filled--congratulate me for loving him. Ah, nothing
is sweeter, holier, or more precious than love; and I can tell you that
we women are happy only when we are under the influence of that divine
passion. Congratulate me, then, my friends, for, thank God, I am in
love! Now, Alexis, what have you to say?"
"There are no words to express such a happiness," cried Alexis, pressing
the feet of the princess to his bosom.
"Happiness, then, strikes you dumb," laughed the princess, "and will not
allow you to say that you love me? Such are all you men. You envelope
yourselves with a convenient silence, and would make us poor women
believe the superabundance of feeling deprives you of utterance.
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