That is the wedding gift which he
offers to her Highness. One way or the other, we have nothing to
fear."
"O!" cried the king, "I had forgotten that magnanimity. His
disappearance is no longer a mystery. He is dead."
His auditors could not repress the start which this declaration
caused them to make.
"Sire," said the chancellor, quietly, "princes are not
assassinated these days. Our worry is perhaps all needless. The
prince is young, and sometimes youth flings off the bridle and
runs away. But he loves her Highness, and the Carnavians are not
fickle."
The prelate and the statesman had different ideas in regard to
the peasant girl. To the prelate a woman was an unknown quantity,
and he frowned. The statesman, who had once been young, knew a
deal about woman, and he smiled.
"Sometimes, my friends," said the king, "I can see beyond the
human glance. I hear the crumbling of walls. But for that lonely
child I could die in peace. The crown I wear is of lead; God
hasten the day that lifts it from my brow." When the king spoke
again, he said: "And that insolent Von Rumpf is gone at last? I
am easier.
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