'Or, if
you choose to tear that paper, never!'
'I would rather it were done quickly,' said the Prince. 'I shall
take but time to leave a letter for the Princess.'
'Well,' said the Countess, 'I have advised you to resist; at the
same time, if you intend to be dumb before your shearers, I must say
that I ought to set about arranging your arrest. I offered' - she
hesitated - 'I offered to manage it, intending, my dear friend -
intending, upon my soul, to be of use to you. Well, if you will not
profit by my goodwill, then be of use to me; and as soon as ever you
feel ready, go to the Flying Mercury where we met last night. It
will be none the worse for you; and to make it quite plain, it will
be better for the rest of us.'
'Dear madam, certainly,' said Otto. 'If I am prepared for the chief
evil, I shall not quarrel with details. Go, then, with my best
gratitude; and when I have written a few lines of leave-taking, I
shall immediately hasten to keep tryst. To-night I shall not meet
so dangerous a cavalier,' he added, with a smiling gallantry.
As soon as Madame von Rosen was gone, he made a great call upon his
self-command. He was face to face with a miserable passage where,
if it were possible, he desired to carry himself with dignity. As
to the main fact, he never swerved or faltered; he had come so
heart-sick and so cruelly humiliated from his talk with Gotthold,
that he embraced the notion of imprisonment with something bordering
on relief.
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