"No, madam," cried the prince, delighted at so much wit, "you alone have recognized me, you alone have understood me, to you belong my heart and kingdom. Throw off that suspicious mask; this very instant we will return to the ball-room and I will present to the ignorant crowd the woman whom I have had the happiness not to displease. Say but one word, and all my people shall be at your feet." "My lord," replied the stranger, sadly, "permit me to refuse an offer which does me honor and the memory of which I shall always preserve. I am ambitious, I own; the time has been when I should have been proud to share your throne and name; but before all things I am a woman and place all my happiness in love. I will not have a divided heart, should my rival be only a memory; I am jealous even of the past." "I have never loved in my life," cried the prince, with a vehemence that made the stranger start. "There is a mystery concerning my marriage which I can reveal only to my wife; but I swear to you that I have never given away my heart; I love now for the first time." "Show me your hand," said the gipsy, approaching the lamp, "and let me see whether you have told the truth." Charming extended his hand with assurance; the gipsy studied the lines and sighed. "You are right, my lord," said she, "you have never loved. But this does not appease my jealousy. Another woman has loved you before me. These sacred bonds are not broken by death; the queen still loves you--you belong to her. To accept a heart which is no longer at your disposal would be sacrilegious and criminal in me. Farewell." "Madam," said the king, with an ill-assured voice, "you do not know what you make me suffer. There are things which I would gladly burn in eternal silence, but which you force me to reveal. The queen never loved me; ambition alone dictated her conduct." "That is not so," said the stranger, letting go the prince's hand. "The queen loved you." "No, madam," replied Charming; "my father and I were the victims of a detestable intrigue." "Enough!" said the stranger, whose hands trembled and whose fingers worked in a strange manner. "Respect the dead; do not slander them." "Madam," said the prince, "I assure you, and none ever doubted my word, that the queen never loved me. She was a wicked woman." "Ah!" said the domino. "Wilful, violent, and jealous." "If she was jealous, she loved you," interrupted the mask. "Seek for proofs which have at least a shadow of probability; do not accuse a heart which was wholly yours." "So far from loving me," said the king, excitedly, "the very night of my marriage she dared tell me to my face that she had married me only for my crown." "That is not true," said the gipsy, raising her hand. "I swear it," replied Charming. "You lie!" cried the stranger. And, lo! a box on the ear blinded the prince; the blow was repeated, and the stranger fled.