The Daughter of an Empress

Anna now turned to her husband, and, with cutting coldness in her tone,

said: "You must understand, my husband, that I am very generous. It was in my

power to arrest you as a traitor, but I preferred to shame you, because

you, unhappily, are the father of my child."

"You think, then," asked the prince, with a scornful smile, "that I

shall take the buffoonery you have just had played before us for truth?"

"That, my prince, must wholly depend upon your own good pleasure. But

for the present I must request you to retire to your own apartments!

I feel myself much moved and exhausted, and have also to prepare some

secret dispatches for Count Lynar to take with him in his journey."

"Count Lynar is, then, to leave us?" quickly asked the prince, in an

evidently more friendly tone.

"Yes," said Anna, "he leaves us for some weeks to visit the estate in

Liefland which I have given to Julia as a bridal present, and to make

there the necessary preparations for the proper reception of his wife."

Julia clasped the hands of her mistress, and bathed them with tears of

joy and gratitude.

"Anna," whispered Prince Ulrich, "I did you wrong. Pardon me."

Anna coldly responded: "I will pardon you if you will be generous enough

to allow me a little repose."

The prince silently and respectfully withdrew.

Anna finally, left alone with her lover and her favorite, sank exhausted

upon a divan.

"Close the doors, Julia, that no one may surprise us," she faintly

murmured. "I will take leave. Oh, I would be left for at least a quarter

of an hour undisturbed in my unhappiness."

"Then it is quite true that you intend to drive me away?" asked Count

Lynar, kneeling and clasping her hands. "You are determined to send me

into banishment?"

Anna gave him a glance of tenderness.

"No," said she, "I will send myself into banishment, for I shall not

see you dearest. But I felt that this sacrifice was necessary. Julia

has sacrificed herself for us. With another love in her heart, she has

magnanimously thrown away her freedom and given up her maiden love for

the promotion of our happiness. We owe it to her to preserve her honor

untarnished, that the calumnious crowd may not pry into the motives of

her generous act. For Julia's sake, the world must and shall believe

that she is in fact your wife, and that it was love that united you. We

must, therefore, preserve appearances, and you must conduct your wife to

your estate in triumph. Decency requires it, and we cannot disregard its

requirements."

"Princess Anna is in the right," said Julia; "you must absent yourself

for a few weeks--not for my sake, who little desire any such triumph,

but that the world may believe the tale, and no longer suspect my

princess."