_Countess_ (_running through the letter_). She has the air of a noble woman, your mother. _Prince._ Yes. We two are very fond of each other. She advises me not to have too much success, poor mother! She believes me always irresistible. _Countess._ Then you have been so, my prince? _Prince._ Why, yes, a little, up to the day I had the honor of meeting you--Well, what do you advise me? _Countess._ To go, since your mother wishes to see you again. _Prince._ That’s my advice, too, and to tell you the truth, I came this evening specially to bid you good-by. _Countess._ What! to bid me good-by?--And that _proverbe_? What was the object of that joke? _Prince._ That _proverbe_? Come, madame, I want the last impression you receive of me to be pleasant. You will laugh. Here is the history of that _proverbe_. You remember well enough that which passed between us two years ago, after I had vainly offered you my heart and my hand. It so happened that if I wished to continue to regard you as a friend, I must sternly refrain from all allusions to a love definitely repulsed. I gave you my word on the matter, and I expected to have kept it scrupulously. _Countess._ That is true. _Prince._ Well, then, I made a mistake there. Excuse me, I swear to you that I am going. My discretion and my reserve naturally made you believe that I was cured of my love. _Countess._ Naturally. _Prince._ Yes. Well, it is a mistake. I love you always. I love you like a fool, like a child, like an angel, like a savage, as you will. Having decided to go away, I wished first to make one supreme effort, a desperate one. The idea of that _proverbe_ came to me. Under cover of that _proverbe_ I promised myself to set my feelings before you, with so much fire, emotion, eloquence, wit, that you would be infallibly softened, fascinated, and overcome. You have seen how successful I was!--Isn’t it comic?--Now, madame, adieu. _Countess._ Adieu, Prince. _Prince._ One word more. Be gracious enough to tell me why you refused to marry me. My proposal was, in fact, perfectly honest and perfectly worthy of acceptance. Why did you repulse it with so much decision? Was it from caprice, from antipathy, or did you have some serious reason? _Countess._ I had a serious reason. _Prince._ You loved some one? _Countess._ No one. _Prince._ Then your heart was free, like your hand. You had not been, you told me so yourself, particularly happy with your husband--although he was charming, from what they say. _Countess._ He was charming, altogether charming, sparkling and irresistible--like you--in days gone by. _Prince._ In short, you were not happy; consequently, you had no occasion to torment yourself if you became unfaithful to the memory of the dead. As for me I had a brilliant name, a fortune, a position. At that time I was not ill and depressed as I am now. I was tolerable in my person. _Countess._ Very handsome, indeed.