little feminine things who are so persecuted, asked
to inflict cruelty—to take a sword and
strike with it. But I—who look on marriage
as more than a surrender—I could well withstand
surpassing eloquence. It was easy to me to be
inflexible in speech and will when I stood there, entreated
to change myself. But when came magically the
other, who is my heart, my voice, my mate, the half
of me, and broke into illumination of things long
hidden—oh! then did I say to you that it
was my weakness had come upon me? It was my last
outcry of self—the “I” expiring.
I am now yours, “We” has long overshadowed
“I,” and now engulphs it. We are one.
If it were new to me to find myself interrogating
the mind of my beloved, relying on his courage, taking
many proofs of his devotion, I might pause to re-peruse
my words here, without scruple, written. I sign
it, before heaven, your Ottilia.
’OttiliaFrederika Wilhelmina Hedwig,
‘Princess
of Eppenwelzen-Sarkeld.’
AN INTERVIEW WITH PRINCE ERNEST AND A MEETING WITH PRINCE OTTO
A messenger from Prince Ernest commanding my immediate
attendance at the palace signified that the battle
had begun. I could have waited for my father,
whose return from one of his expeditions in the prince’s
service was expected every instant; but though I knew
I should have, had a powerful coadjutor in him to
assist me through such a conference, I preferred to
go down alone. Prince Otto met me in the hall.
He passed by, glancing an eye sharply, and said over
his shoulder,
‘We shall have a word together presently!’
The library door was flung open. Prince Ernest
and the margravine were in the room. She walked
out with angry majesty. The prince held his figure
in the stiff attitude of reception. He could look
imposing.
The character of the interview was perceptible at
once.
’You have not, I presume, to be informed of
the business in hand, Mr. Richmond!’
‘Your Highness, I believe I can guess it.’
This started him pacing the floor.
’An impossibility! a monstrous extravagance!
a thing unheard of! mania! mania!’ he muttered.
’You are aware, sir, that you have been doing
your worst to destroy the settled arrangements of
my family? What does it mean? In common
reason you cannot indulge any legitimate hope of succeeding.
Taking you as a foreigner, you must know that.
Judge of the case by your own reigning Families.
Such events never happen amongst them. Do you
suppose that the possession of immense wealth entitles
you to the immeasurable presumption of aspiring to
equality of position with reigning Houses? Such
folly is more frequently castigated than reasoned
with. Why, now—now, were it published—that
I had condescended—condescend as I am doing,
I should be the laughing-stock of every Court in Europe.
