"Do you not?" he asked, eagerly, with brightened eyes.
"And I should like to meet your aunt," she continued, hastily.
"So you shall, most certainly," he assented, instantly. "As soon as it
can be arranged."
"Oh, does it have to be arranged?" inquired Susie, in some dismay.
"Not in that sense--she is very democratic--she likes people for what
they are. But until this question of the succession is concluded you
will readily understand that, through anxiety, she is not in the best of
humours--not quite herself."
"Is she, then, here?" asked Susie.
"Here? Oh, no; she is at Markheim--at the post of duty. That is another
reason--until this affair is settled, I cannot ask her to join me here."
"You will ask her to do that?"
"Certainly; she can stop here very well on her way to Ostend. She would
be at Ostend now but for this affair. Perhaps that is another reason why
she is ill-humoured. She is so fond of life and gaiety, and in summer
Markheim is rather dull. Besides, there is the tradition to maintain."
"How do you know that she is in an ill-humour," questioned Sue, "if you
have not seen her?"
"Oh, she writes to me--I had a letter from her this morning. I can see
she is not well-pleased--quite the opposite, in fact!--at the way things
are going."
"And how are they going?"
"They seem to be going against us," said the Prince, with a touch of
bitterness.
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