"To-morrow it will be international news that I'm _not_!" The emphasis
this time threatened to crack the table-leaf. "I'm not going to risk
my liberty with a girl who has no more sense of dignity than she has."
"It is very kind of you," murmured the princess.
"She'd make a fine wife," went on the prince, ignoring the
interruption. "No, a thousand times no! Take her away--life's too
short; take her away! Let her marry the fellow; he's young and may get
over it."
The duke was furious. He looked around for something to strike, and
nothing but the table being convenient, he smashed a leaf and sent a
vase clattering to the floor. He was stronger than the prince,
otherwise there wouldn't have been a table to thwack.
"That's right; go on! Break all the furniture, if it will do you any
good; but mark me, you'll foot the bill." The prince began to dance
around. "I will not marry the girl. That's as final as I can make it.
The sooner you calm down the better."
How the girl's eyes sparkled! She was free. The odious alliance would
not take place.
"Who is that?"
Everybody turned and looked at Max. His arm was leveled in the
direction of a fine portrait in oil which hung suspended over the
fireplace. Max was very pale.
"What's that to you?" snarled the prince. He was what we Yankees call
"hopping mad." The vase was worth a hundred crowns, and he never could
find a leaf to replace the one just broken.
"I believe I have a right to know who that woman is up there." Max
spoke quietly. As a matter of fact he was too weak to speak otherwise.
"A right to know? What do you mean?" demanded the prince fiercely.
"It is my wife."
With trembling fingers Max produced his locket.
"Will you look at this?" he asked in a voice that was a bit shaky.
The prince stepped forward and jerked the locket from Max's hand. But
the moment he saw the contents his jaw fell and he rocked on his heels
unsteadily and staggered back toward the duke for support.
"What's the matter, Prince?" asked the duke anxiously. After all
Doppelkinn was an old crony, and mayhap he had been harsh with him.
"Where did you get that?" asked the prince hoarsely.
"I have always worn it," answered Max. "The chain that went with it
originally will no longer fit my neck."
"Arnheim! . . . Duke! . . . Come and look at this!"--feebly.
"Good Heaven!" cried the duke.
"It is the princess!" said Arnheim in awed tones.
"Where did you get it?" demanded the prince again.