Eugen, let us come to the point; why do
you want that million? Is it actually true that you are so deeply in
debt? I have no desire to improve the occasion. I merely ask.'
'And what if I do owe a million?' said Prince Eugen with assumed
valour.
'Oh, nothing, my dear Eugen, nothing. Only it is rather a large sum
to have scattered in ten years, is it not? How did you manage it?'
'Don't ask me, Aribert. I've been a fool. But I swear to you that the
woman whom you call "the lady in the red hat" is the last of my
follies. I am about to take a wife, and become a respectable
Prince.'
'Then the engagement with Princess Anna is an accomplished
fact?'
'Practically so. As soon as I have settled with Levi, all will be
smooth.
Aribert, I wouldn't lose Anna for the Imperial throne. She is a good
and pure woman, and I love her as a man might love an angel.'
'And yet you would deceive her as to your debts, Eugen?'
'Not her, but her absurd parents, and perhaps the Emperor. They
have heard rumours, and I must set those rumours at rest by
presenting to them a clean sheet.'
'I am glad you have been frank with me, Eugen,' said Prince
Aribert, 'but I will be plain with you. You will never marry the
Princess Anna.'
'And why?' said Eugen, supercilious again.
'Because her parents will not permit it. Because you will not be
able to present a clean sheet to them. Because this Sampson Levi
will never lend you a million.
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