'O, never! O, is it possible!' fluted the lady. 'Your Highness
plays like an angel.'
'You must be right, madam; who could speak falsely and yet look so
charming?' said the Prince. 'But this gentleman, it seems, would
have preferred me playing like an actor.'
A sort of hum, a falsetto, feminine cooing, greeted the tiny sally;
and Otto expanded like a peacock. This warm atmosphere of women and
flattery and idle chatter pleased him to the marrow.
'Madame von Eisenthal, your coiffure is delicious,' he remarked.
'Every one was saying so,' said one.
'If I have pleased Prince Charming?' And Madame von Eisenthal swept
him a deep curtsy with a killing glance of adoration.
'It is new?' he asked. 'Vienna fashion.'
'Mint new,' replied the lady, 'for your Highness's return. I felt
young this morning; it was a premonition. But why, Prince, do you
ever leave us?'
'For the pleasure of the return,' said Otto. 'I am like a dog; I
must bury my bone, and then come back to great upon it.'
'O, a bone! Fie, what a comparison! You have brought back the
manners of the wood,' returned the lady.
'Madam, it is what the dog has dearest,' said the Prince. 'But I
observe Madame von Rosen.'
And Otto, leaving the group to which he had been piping, stepped
towards the embrasure of a window where a lady stood.
The Countess von Rosen had hitherto been silent, and a thought
depressed, but on the approach of Otto she began to brighten.
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