Sketches New and Old
Page 34
CHAPTER III.
THE PLOT THICKENS.
Few months drifted by. All men published the praises of the youngConrad's government and extolled the wisdom of his judgments, themercifulness of his sentences, and the modesty with which he bore himselfin his great office. The old duke soon gave everything into his hands,and sat apart and listened with proud satisfaction while his heirdelivered the decrees of the crown from the seat of the premier.It seemed plain that one so loved and praised and honored of all menas Conrad was could not be otherwise than happy. But strangely enough,he was not. For he saw with dismay that the Princess Constance had begunto love him! The love of the rest of the world was happy fortune forhim, but this was freighted with danger! And he saw, moreover, that thedelighted duke had discovered his daughter's passion likewise, and wasalready dreaming of a marriage. Every day somewhat of the deep sadnessthat had been in the princess's face faded away; every day hope andanimation beamed brighter from her eye; and by and by even vagrant smilesvisited the face that had been so troubled.
Conrad was appalled. He bitterly cursed himself for having yielded tothe instinct that had made him seek the companionship of one of his ownsex when he was new and a stranger in the palace--when he was sorrowfuland yearned for a sympathy such as only women can give or feel. He nowbegan to avoid his cousin. But this only made matters worse, for,naturally enough, the more he avoided her the more she cast herself inhis way. He marveled at this at first, and next it startled him. Thegirl haunted him; she hunted him; she happened upon him at all times andin all places, in the night as well as in the day. She seemed singularlyanxious. There was surely a mystery somewhere.
This could not go on forever. All the world was talking about it. Theduke was beginning to look perplexed. Poor Conrad was becoming a veryghost through dread and dire distress. One day as he was emerging from aprivate anteroom attached to the picture-gallery, Constance confrontedhim, and seizing both his hands, in hers, exclaimed:
"Oh, why do you avoid me? What have I done--what have I said, to loseyour kind opinion of me--for surely I had it once? Conrad, do notdespise me, but pity a tortured heart? I cannot, cannot hold the wordsunspoken longer, lest they kill me--I LOVE you, CONRAD! There, despiseme if you must, but they would be uttered!"
Conrad was speechless. Constance hesitated a moment, and then,misinterpreting his silence, a wild gladness flamed in her eyes, and sheflung her arms about his neck and said:
"You relent! you relent! You can love me--you will love me! Oh, say youwill, my own, my worshipped Conrad!'"
Conrad groaned aloud. A sickly pallor overspread his countenance, andhe trembled like an aspen. Presently, in desperation, he thrust the poorgirl from him, and cried:
"You know not what you ask! It is forever and ever impossible!" And thenhe fled like a criminal, and left the princess stupefied with amazement.A minute afterward she was crying and sobbing there, and Conrad wascrying and sobbing in his chamber. Both were in despair. Both saw ruinstaring them in the face.
By and by Constance rose slowly to her feet and moved away, saying:
"To think that he was despising my love at the very moment that I thoughtit was melting his cruel heart! I hate him! He spurned me--did thisman--he spurned me from him like a dog!"