Part 35 (2/2)
”Then the woman I saw in Vienna--”
”Was the Princess.”
”But this remarkable likeness?”
”Perhaps I had best tell you all.” And when I had done, his astonishment knew no bounds.
”Great George, that makes Miss Landors a Princess, too!”
”It does, truly. Herein lies the evil of loving above one's station.
In our country love is like all things, free to obtain. We are in a country which is not free. Here, those who appear to have the greatest liberty have the least.”
”And she knows nothing about it?”
”Nothing.”
”Why tell her?” he asked, fearful of his own love affair now.
”It is a duty. Some day she might learn too late. This afternoon I shall visit the Chancellor and place the matter before him and ask his a.s.sistance. He must aid me to find the proofs.”
Pembroke began kicking the snow with his toes.
”I wish you had not told me, Jack.”
”It is for the best. You and I are in the same boat; we ride or sink together.”
At luncheon his mind was absent and he ate but little. And I ate less than he. It was going to be very hard for me to meet Gretchen.
The Chancellor waved his hand toward a chair. We were very good friends.
”What is it now?” he asked, smiling. ”I dare not stir up the antagonists against the government to give you a story, and aside from the antagonists it is dull.”
”I will find the story in the present instance,” said I. And in the fewest words possible I laid before him the object of my visit.
”This is a very strange story,” he said, making a pyramid of his fingers and contemplating the task with a careful air. ”Are you not letting your imagination run away with you?”
”Not for a moment. I ask you to attend the ball at the American ministry this evening, and if the likeness between the two women does not convince you, the matter shall drop, so far as I am concerned.”
”Has Herr Wentworth any idea of the affair?”
”It is not possible. What would be his object in keeping it a secret?”
”Still, it is a grave matter, and without precedent. We must move carefully. You understand that there was no knowledge of another child, only rumor; and then it was believed to be an hallucination of the mother, whose mind was not very strong.”
”Do you believe,” I asked, ”that two persons born of different parentage, in different lands, may resemble each other as these two do?”
”No. I shall let you know what stand I'll take when I have seen them together. And what will His Majesty say?” he mused. ”I'm afraid the matter will a.s.sume many complications. And I might add that you seem particularly interested.”
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