"
"Pardon, Highness; I did not think." Gretchen was disturbed.
But the princess comforted her with: "I know it. There are some
questions which should not be asked even by the heart."
This was not understandable to Gretchen; but the locket pleased her eye.
Her highness, observing her interest, slipped the trinket from her neck
and laid it in Gretchen's hand.
"Open it," she said. "It is a picture of my mother, whom I do not
recollect having ever seen. Wait," as Gretchen turned it about
helplessly.
"I will open it for you." Click!
Gretchen sighed deeply. To have had a mother so fair and pretty! She
hadn't an idea how her own mother had looked; indeed, being sensible and
not given much to conjuring, she had rarely bothered her head about it.
Still, as she gazed at this portrait, the sense of her isolation and
loneliness drew down upon her, and she in her turn sought the flowers
and saw them not. After a while she closed the locket and returned it.
"So you love music?" picking up the safer thread.
"Ah, yes, Highness."
"Do you ever go to the opera?"
"As often as I can afford. I am very poor."
"I will give you a ticket for the season. How can I reward you for
bringing this message? Don't have any false pride. Ask for something.
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