“None at all, at first. When Carlino told me at Witska that he had accepted the crown, I had been wondering just before whether I had done right in urging him to take it, and while he was speaking I saw quite suddenly what I must do. Since I had goaded him into becoming king--I really did, Marraine; I said dreadful things to him--this was my punishment, that the kingdom should come between him and me. There was no question about my duty.” “But why punish the poor Carlino?” asked the Princess. “I don’t know, Marraine--because I could not do my duty without punishing him, I suppose. I am afraid I didn’t think of that--I was so unhappy, and yet I never doubted that I was right. And then, when Lord Cyril came to speak to me about it, it was just the same. He seemed not to have a doubt as to my refusing Carlino, but took it for granted both that I ought to do it and that I should.” “And you felt unwilling to disappoint Lord Cyril?” said the Princess, with a sarcasm that came oddly from her gentle lips. “Your parents, also, would have been disappointed, no doubt, if you had become Queen of Thracia?” “Oh no,” returned Nadia in surprise. “They wished it above all things.” “And you felt that anything that they desired was on that account alone to be regarded with suspicion? I know that you are inclined to be always in opposition, my child. To us of the older generation, dissent is a sorrowful necessity; to you young reformers it is the breath of life. You feel happier when you have found something with which you can disagree.” Nadia digested this unpalatable remark with what patience she might. “Carlino has hinted something of the same kind to me,” she said, “but I did not know that I was quite so bad as that.” “You have never doubted the wisdom of your action, then?” “Oh yes, often, when we were at Witska the second time. The doubts used to torment me. And then came the offer which was brought by Vladimir Alexandrovitch. You would not have had me accept that, Marraine?” “And enslave your husband’s kingdom? God forbid, my child. But you have received a message from Carlino himself, since that time, have you not?” “Yes, but---- It was Lord Cyril again, Marraine. I forgot all my doubts when he put things before me.” “Then it was only necessary for him to take it for granted again that you would refuse his brother, and you did?” “Oh no, Marraine; you do not know Lord Cyril at all. This time he took it for granted that I should give way and marry Carlino, and I could not resist proving him a false prophet.” “You care much less, then, for the happiness of Carlino than for the opinion of his brother, since you prefer to disappoint your lover rather than hear Lord Cyril say, ‘I have prophesied it’?” “No, indeed, I have no respect for Lord Cyril’s opinion; but it is the things he says--he has a power over me.” “You do not love Carlino sufficiently to disregard Lord Cyril’s sneers?” “Marraine! I love him well enough to give him up.”