Frederick The Great And His Family | Page 9

be like you, mamma; indeed, I will. Oh, you should but see how I watch you, and notice how you smile at all the gentlemen, what soft eyes you make, and then again, how cold and proud you are, and then look at them so tenderly! Oh, I have noticed all, and I shall do just the same, and I will run away with a gardener, but I will not let papa catch me--no, not I."
"Hush, child, hush!" cried the mother, rising, pale and trembling, from her knees; "you must become a good and virtuous girl, and never run away with a man. Forget what your bad father has told you; you know he hates me, and has told you all these falsehoods to make you do the same."
"Mamma, can you swear that it is not true?"
"Yes, my child, I can swear it."
"You did not run off with a gardener?"
"No, my child. Have I not told you that a virtuous girl never runs away?"
"You did not make papa unhappy, and, being his wife, love other men?"
"No, my daughter."
"Mamma," said the child, after a long pause, "can you give me your right hand, and swear you did not?"
Louise hesitated a moment; a cold shiver ran through her, she felt as if she was about to perjure herself; but as she looked into the beautiful face of her child, whose eyes were fixed on her with a strange expression, she overcame her unwillingness.
"Here is my hand--I swear that all your father told you is false!"
Camilla laughed gleefully. "Oh, mamma, I have caught you: you always want me to tell the truth, and never give my right hand when a thing is not true, and now you have done it yourself."
"What have I done!" said the mother, trembling.
"You gave me your right hand, and swore that all papa told me was false; and I say it is true, and you have sworn falsely,"
"Why do you believe that, Camilla?" she asked.
"I don't believe it, I know it," said the child, with a sly smile,
"When papa spoke to you, for the last time, and told you good-by forever, he told you the same he had told me. Oh! I was there and heard all; you did not see me slip into the room and hide behind the fire-place. Papa told you that you had been the cause of all his unhappiness and shame; that from the day you had run off with the gardener and he, at the king's command, went after you, and married you--from that day, he had been a lost man, and when he said that, you cried, but did not tell him, as you told me, that it was not true."
Louise did not answer. This last taunt had crushed her heart, and silenced her. Still leaning on the bed, she looked at her child with painful tenderness. Camilla's mocking laughter had pierced her soul as with a dagger.
"Lost," she murmured, "both of us lost!"
With passionate despair she threw her arms around the child, and pressed her closely; kissed her wildly again and again, and covered her face with burning tears.
"No, Camilla, no! you shall not be lost, you must remain good and pure! Every child has its guardian angel; pray, my child, pray that your angel may watch over you!"
She pressed her again in her arms, then returned to her chamber, sadder and more hopeless than she had ever been before.
But this unusual sadness commenced to annoy her; her heart was not accustomed to feel sorrow, and her remorseful, dreary feeling made her shudder. "If the carriage would but come!" she murmured, and then, as if to excuse her thoughtlessness, she added, "it is now my holy duty to listen to the prince; I must regain the respect of my child. Yes, yes, I must become the wife of Henry I I can accomplish this, for the prince loves me truly."
And now, she was again the coquette, whose captivating smile harmonized perfectly with her alluring costume--no longer the tender mother, no longer the sinner suffering from repentance and self- reproach.
She stood before the glass, and arranged her disordered dress and smoothed her dishevelled hair.
"I must be bewitching and fascinating," she murmured, with a smile that showed two rows of pearl-like teeth; "the prince must gain courage from my glance, to offer me his hand. Oh, I know he is quite prepared to do so, if it were only to annoy his brother!" As she saw the carriage drive up, she exclaimed, with sparkling eyes, "The battle begins--to victory!"

CHAPTER IV
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AT THE MASKED BALL.
The feast had commenced. As Louise von Kleist, the beautiful odalisque, entered the dancing-saloon, she was almost blinded by the gay and sparkling assembly. The fairy-like and fantastic robes sparkled with gold and jewels. The sea of light thrown from