Arms and the Woman

"That is it; that is it. It could never be. Gretchen is no more. The

Princess who, you say, came to you in a dream was then but a woman--"

"Aye, and such a woman!" I interrupted. "As God hears me, I would give

ten years of my life to hold her again in my arms, to kiss her lips, to

hear her say that she loved me. But, pardon me, what were you going to

say?"

"Your dream Princess was but a woman--ah, well; this is Tuesday;

Thursday at noon she will wed the Prince. It is written."

"The devil!" I let slip. I was at the start again.

"Sir, you do him injustice."

"Who?--the Prince?" savagely.

"No; the--the devil!" She had fully recovered, and I had no weapon

left.

"Gretchen, did you really ever love me?"

There was no answer.

"No; I do not believe you did. If you had loved me, what to you would

have been a King, a Prince, a principality? If you broke that promise

who would be wronged? Not the King, not the Prince."

"No, I should not have wronged them, but," said the Princess rising, "I

should have wronged my people whom I have sworn to protect; I should

have wronged my own sense of honor; I should have broken those ties

which I have sworn to hold dear and precious as my life; I should have

forsaken a sacred duty for something I was not sure of--a man's love!"

"Gretchen!"

"Am I cruel? Look!" Phyllis stood at the other end of the

conservatory. "Does not there recur to you some other woman you have

loved? You start. Come; was not your love for Gretchen pique? Who is

she who thus mirrors my own likeness? Whoever she is, she loves you!

Let us return; I shall be missed." It was not the woman but the

Princess who spoke.

"You are breaking two hearts!" I cried, my voice full of

disappointment, passion and anger.

"Two? Perhaps; but yours will not be counted."

"You are--"

"Pray, do not lose your temper," icily; and she swept toward the

entrance.

I had lost.

As the Princess drew near to Phyllis the brown eyes of the one met the

blue-green eyes of the other. There was almost an exclamation on

Phyllis's lips; there was almost a question on Gretchen's; both paled.

Phyllis understood, but Gretchen did not, why the impulse to speak

came. Then the brown eyes of Phyllis turned their penetrating gaze to

my own eyes, which I was compelled to shift. I bowed, and the Princess

and I passed on.