The
Mayence beauty saw him in his handsome blue uniform coat, and learned
that very day the identity of her admirer. Her manner to him altered
as if by magic. She had eyes for him alone, distinguished him by a
cordiality which justified the boldest hopes and, by her tender looks
and smiles, seemed to be imploring forgiveness for not having perceived
his value sooner. Prince Louis noticed this sudden change and felt the
deepest shame.
For two days good and evil fought a hard battle in his soul. His
innate nobility of character urged him not to profit by his advantage,
to withdraw from a person whom he had discovered to be so superficial.
His bitter contempt for women whispered to carry the relation which had
assumed a frivolous turn, to the doubtful end. Baseness triumphed over
nobility, and let any man of twenty-four who feels that he is guiltless
cast the first stone at the prince. But his evil genius farther
instigated him to do something very odious. After a poetic hour, in
which the Mayence beauty, amid fervid kisses, had asked whether he, her
beloved one, would now be hers forever, he sent her a package which
contained--his uniform, and a costly pin in the shape of a crown,
accompanied by a little note stating that he gave, for her perpetual
possession, all that she had loved in him.
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