"Neither mother nor father. Our lives are something alike. A handsome
girl like you must have a sweetheart."
Gretchen blushed. "Yes, Highness. I am to be married soon. He is a
vintner. I would not trade him for your king, Highness," with a spice of
boldness.
Her highness did not take offense; rather she liked this frankness. In
truth, she liked any one who spoke to her on equal footing; it was a
taste of the old days when she herself could have chosen a vintner and
married him, with none to say her nay. Now she was only a pretty bird in
a gilded cage. She could fly, but whenever she did so she blundered
painfully against the bright wires. If there was any envy between these
two, it existed in the heart of the princess only. To be free like this,
to come and go at will, to love where the heart spoke! She surrendered
to another vagrant impulse.
"Gretchen, I do not think I shall marry the king of Jugendheit."
Gretchen grew red with pride. Her highness was telling her state
secrets!
"You love some one else, Highness?" How should a goose-girl know that
such a question was indelicate?
Her highness did not blush; the color in her cheeks receded. She
fondled the heart-shaped locket which she invariably wore round her
throat. That this peasant girl should thus boldly put a question she
herself had never dared to press!
"You must not ask questions like that, Gretchen.
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