'Do not heed me,' she said in happy undertones. 'I think I am going to
cry like a girl. One cannot see one's pride die like this, without but
it is not anguish of any kind. Since we are here together, I would have
no other change.'

She spoke till the tears came thick.

I told her of the letters I had received, warning me of a trouble
besetting her. They were, perhaps, the excuse for my conduct, if I had
any.

Schwartz burst on us with his drill-sergeant's shout for the princess.
Standing grey in big rain-drops he was an object of curiosity to us both.
He came to take her orders.

'The thunder,' he announced, raising a telegraphic arm, 'rolls. It
rains. We have a storm. Command me, princess! your highness!'

Ottilia's eyelids were set blinking by one look aloft. Rain and
lightning filled heaven and earth.

'Direct us, you!' she said to me gently.

The natural proposal was to despatch her giant by the direct way down the
lake to fetch a carriage from the stables, or matting from the boathouse.
I mentioned it, but did not press it.

She meditated an instant. 'I believe I may stay with my beloved?'