The princess knows, perhaps too
well, that her husband is wholly indifferent to her beauty and her
expression, and therefore feels herself at liberty to yield to each
changeful mood without ceremony in your presence."
"You are right," said Prince Henry, sadly, "she is wholly
indifferent to me, and I have told her so. We will speak no more of
it. What, indeed, are the moods of the princess to me? I will dress,
go to the music-saloon, and ask for forgiveness in my name for my
delay. I will soon be ready; I will seek the princess in her
apartments, and we will join you in a few moments."
The prince bowed and left the room. Kalkreuth gazed after him
thoughtfully and anxious.
"His manner is unaccountably strange to-day," whispered he. "Has he,
perhaps, any suspicion; and these apparently artless questions and
remarks this distraction and forgetfulness--But no, no! it is
impossible, he can know nothing--no one has betrayed me. It is the
anguish of my conscience which makes me fearful; this suffering I
must bear, it is the penalty I pay for my great happiness." The
count sighed deeply and withdrew.
The prince completed his toilet, and sought the princess in her
apartment, in the other wing of the castle.
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