'Some day, madam,' said Otto, 'I may ask you to help make a farmer.'

'Is that a riddle?' asked the Countess.

'It is,' replied the Prince, 'and a very good one too.'

'Tit for tat. I will ask you another,' she returned. 'Where is
Gondremark?'

'The Prime Minister? In the prime-ministry, no doubt,' said Otto.

'Precisely,' said the Countess; and she pointed with her fan to the
door of the Princess's apartments. 'You and I, MON PRINCE, are in
the ante-room. You think me unkind,' she added. 'Try me and you
will see. Set me a task, put me a question; there is no enormity I
am not capable of doing to oblige you, and no secret that I am not
ready to betray.'

'Nay, madam, but I respect my friend too much,' he answered, kissing
her hand. 'I would rather remain ignorant of all. We fraternise
like foemen soldiers at the outposts, but let each be true to his
own army.'

'Ah,' she cried, 'if all men were generous like you, it would be
worth while to be a woman!' Yet, judging by her looks, his
generosity, if anything, had disappointed her; she seemed to seek a
remedy, and, having found it, brightened once more. 'And now,' she
said, 'may I dismiss my sovereign? This is rebellion and a CAS
PENDABLE; but what am I to do? My bear is jealous!'