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Gretchen blushed "Yes, Highness I am to be married soon He is a vintner I would not trade hihness," with a spice of boldness

Her highness did not take offense; rather she liked this frankness In truth, she liked any one who spoke to her on equal footing; it was a taste of the old days when she herself could have chosen a vintner and married him, with none to say her nay Now she was only a pretty bird in a gilded cage She could fly, but whenever she did so she blundered painfully against the bright wires If there was any envy between these two, it existed in the heart of the princess only To be free like this, to coo at will, to love where the heart spoke! She surrendered to another vagrant i of Jugendheit"

Gretchen grew red with pride Her highness was telling her state secrets!

"You love soirl know that such a question was indelicate?

Her highness did not blush; the color in her cheeks receded She fondled the heart-shaped locket which she invariably wore round her throat That this peasant girl should thus boldly put a question she herself had never dared to press!

"You hness; I did not think" Gretchen was disturbed

But the princess comforted her with: "I know it There are some questions which should not be asked even by the heart"

This was not understandable to Gretchen; but the locket pleased her eye Her highness, observing her interest, slipped the trinket from her neck and laid it in Gretchen's hand

"Open it," she said "It is a picture ofever seen Wait," as Gretchen turned it about helplessly

"I will open it for you" Click!

Gretchen sighed deeply To have had a mother so fair and pretty! She hadn't an idea how her own iven , she had rarely bothered her head about it Still, as she gazed at this portrait, the sense of her isolation and loneliness dren upon her, and she in her turn sought the flowers and saw them not After a while she closed the locket and returned it

"So you love hness"

"Do you ever go to the opera?"

"As often as I can afford I aive you a ticket for the season How can I reward you for bringing this "