MEN I HAVE PAINTED
I should disturb the watcher. It was pathetic to note the apprehension expressed in the bend of that frail figure as she strained her eyes for the first glimpse of the Prince's carriage leaving the gates of the Kursaal. Presently the horses appeared, glittering in the sunlight, and a distant sound of shouting came, like a sullen murmur, through the window, growing louder and louder as the carriage rapidly neared the castle, and ending in a tumult of deafening noise under the window as the Prince descended from the carriage and hurriedly entered the doorway.
He came at once to the salon to greet the Princess, who had come forward to meet him. On seeing me he drew himself up, frowning, and waited for me to speak. Stepping forward, I said I had come to pay my respects, and added that as he had been kind enough to invite me to come again, I had hoped he would be indulgent enough to grant my request for a sitting.
At this he thundered out, "It is true, I did ask you to come again, but not for a sitting. Is it not enough to be besieged by all these people outside, that you should also come to bother me? I have come here for quiet and rest, to take the cure. Listen to that shouting! They want me to speak to them." At this the Princess went to him and, laying her hand gently on his arm, said, "Only say one word to them, or even show yourself on the balcony, and then they will go away." The noise outside was deafening. Through the din I had heard his voice in stentorian tones, asking why I had come to bother him. His great form towered above me. Resentment had brought the blood to his face, that from pink had turned to red, and from red to purple. His eyes bulged from their sockets, round and blazing, and his contracted brows had
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