'Madam, enough!' cried Otto. 'Ahasuerus reaches you the sceptre;
more, he will obey you in all points. I should have been a dog to
come to whistling.'

And so the Prince departed, and fluttered round Grafinski and von
Eisenthal. But the Countess knew the use of her offensive weapons,
and had left a pleasant arrow in the Prince's heart. That
Gondremark was jealous - here was an agreeable revenge! And Madame
von Rosen, as the occasion of the jealousy, appeared to him in a new
light.




CHAPTER V - . . . GONDREMARK IS IN MY LADY'S CHAMBER


THE Countess von Rosen spoke the truth. The great Prime Minister of
Grunewald was already closeted with Seraphina. The toilet was over;
and the Princess, tastefully arrayed, sat face to face with a tall
mirror. Sir John's description was unkindly true, true in terms and
yet a libel, a misogynistic masterpiece. Her forehead was perhaps
too high, but it became her; her figure somewhat stooped, but every
detail was formed and finished like a gem; her hand, her foot, her
ear, the set of her comely head, were all dainty and accordant; if
she was not beautiful, she was vivid, changeful, coloured, and
pretty with a thousand various prettinesses; and her eyes, if they
indeed rolled too consciously, yet rolled to purpose. They were her
most attractive feature, yet they continually bore eloquent false