The secretary yielded to Wogan's argument. He might be in a great fear
of Prince Taxis, but he was in a greater of the Emperor's wrath. He left
Wogan again, and in a little while came back with the written
permission which Wogan desired. Wogan wasted no time in unnecessary
civilities; the morning had already been wasted. The clocks were
striking one as he hurried away from the palace, and before two the
Princess Clementina was able to throw back her cloak from about her face
and take the air; for the berlin was on the road from Trent to Roveredo.
"Those were the four worst hours since we left Innspruck," she said. "I
thought I should suffocate." The revulsion from despair, the knowledge
that each beat of the hoofs brought them nearer to safety, the glow of
the sun upon a country which was Italy in all but name, raised them all
to the top of their spirits. Clementina was in her gayest mood; she
lavished caresses upon her "little woman," as she called Mrs. Misset;
she would have Wogan give her an account of his interview with Prince
Taxis's secretary; she laughed with the merriest enjoyment over his
abuse of Charles Wogan.
"But it was not myself alone whom I slandered," said he. "Your Highness
had a share of our abuse. Our heads wagged gravely over woman's
inconstancies. It was not in nature but you must change your mind.
Indeed, your Highness would have laughed."
But at all events her Highness did not laugh now. On the contrary, her
eyes lost all their merriment, and her blood rushed hotly into her
cheeks. She became for that afternoon a creature of moods, now talking
quickly and perhaps a trifle wildly, now relapsing into long silences.
Wogan was troubled by a thought that the strain of her journey was
telling its tale even upon her vigorous youth. It may be that she noted
his look of anxiety, but she said to him abruptly and with a sort of
rebellion,-"You would despise any woman who had the temerity to change her mind."
"Nay; I do not say that."
"But it is merely politeness that restrains you. You would despise her,
judging her by men. When a man changes his mind, why, it is so, he
changes his mind. But when a girl does, it may well be that for the
first time she is seriously exercising her judgment. For her upbringing
renders it natural that she should allow others to make up her mind for
her at the first."