So absorbed was Kate in grief that she heard nothing, and Nina approached her, slowly, till at last she stood directly behind her, fixedly regarding the heaving figure, the dishevelled hair, and the trembling hands that seemed to clutch with eagerness some object within their grasp. Kate suddenly started, and pushing back her hair from her eyes, seemed as if trying to collect her wandering thoughts. Then, unclasping a case, she placed a miniature before her, and contemplated it attentively. Nina bent over her till she almost touched her in her eagerness. Had any one been there to have seen her features at the moment, they would have perceived the traits of intense and varied passion, surprise, rage, and jealousy, all struggling for the mastery. Her dark skin grew almost livid, and her black eyes glowed with anger; while, with a force like convulsion, she pressed her hands to her heart, as if to calm its beatings. A sea of stormy passions was warring within her, and in her changeful expression might be seen the conflict of her resolves. At last, she appeared to have decided; for with noiseless steps she gradually retreated toward the door, her eyes all the while steadily fixed on her mistress. It seemed to require no slight effort to repress the torrent of rage within her; for even at the door she stood irresolute for a moment, and then, softly opening it, withdrew. Once outside, her pent-up passions found vent, and she sobbed violently. Her mood was, however, more of anger than of sorrow, and there was an air of almost insolent pride in the way she now knocked, and then, without waiting for reply, entered the room. “Madame de Heidendorf requests that the Princess will appear in the drawing-room,” said she, abruptly, and confronting Kate's look of confusion with a steadfast stare. “Say that I am indisposed, Nina,----that I feel tired and unwell,” said Kate, timidly. “There is an Archduke, Madame.” “What care I for an Archduke, Nina?” said Kate, trying to smile away the awkwardness of her own disturbed manner. “I have always believed that great folk liked each other,” said Nina, sarcastically. “Then I must lack one element of that condition, Nina,” said Kate, good-humoredly; “but pray make my excuses,--say anything you like so that I may be left in quiet.” “How delightful Madame's reveries must be, when she attaches such value to them!” “Can you doubt it, Nina?” replied Kate, with a forced gayety. “A betrothed bride ought to be happy; you are always telling me so. I hear of nothing from morn till night but of rich caskets of gems and jewels; you seem to think that diamonds would throw a lustre over any gloom.” [Illustration: 120]