Her Royal Lover: A Novel — page 24: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

16 | HER ROYAL LOVER. ried at that epoch? How long is it then since she married the prince?” “A year. The duel took place a few months after her marriage. But, moreover, this quiet young woman is from twenty-five to thirty years old.” Madame de Mineleko was scarcely twenty. “Was the duel occasioned by the frivolous con- duct of the princess, or was it on the husband’s part, the effect of an ill-founded jealousy ?” “IT do not know; but, certainly his wife could never have loved him much. She was forced to make this marriage, a brilliant match for her, whose fortune was very moderate.” “But he must be terrible, this husband! A verita- ble Othello!” “Poorman! He suffers horribly from the con- stant coquetries of his fickle spouse.” “She is so young !—so beautiful!” “That is a matter of taste!” “No, it is an incontestable fact. And her husband appears to adore her,” said the Prince of Theiss, following with his eyes M. de Mineleko, who, lean- ing against a screen, was conversing absently with M. de Brandt, Minister of the Interior. Ateach instant he turned his eyes in the direction where the charming silhouette of his wife was delineated, chosen indeed by the king to figure with him in the quadrille of honor. Her beauty was en- hanced by this distinction; surrendering herself to the happiness of the moment, she danced with an ease which, tempered by an unusual grace, gave her an inexpressible charm. Suddenly, as she was vis-a-vis the grand duke and the Princess Aline, Ivan Alexandrowitch, profiting of the moment when the lady is obliged to give her Gom C JOO S i