Her Royal Lover: A Novel — page 97: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

HER ROYAL LOVER. 89 Saying this, she hastily arose and went to immerse in a basin of cold water her pretty face, all dis- figured by tears and agitation; then, in order to be able more easily to press upon her neck, long and flexible as that of a swan, her sponge completely saturated with perfumed water, she let slowly slip her muslin dressing-gown. Then, from the elegant red satin corset, which imprisoned her graceful and exquisite form, from some slender bands of lace which were delineated upon her pearly shoulders, her beautiful bust, her rosy and white flesh escaped. Mineleko, enchanted, fascinated, seized anew with passion, forgot for a moment his uneasiness and the terrible gravity of the circumstances. Springing forward, he imprinted a burning kiss upon this snowy bosom and swore to his wife “that all that which she would tell him, all! all! he would blindly believe.” The ambassadress smiled sadly while putting on again her dressing-gown. She knew that this paroxysm of confidence would last no longer than the others. After having left the princess and re-entered his © chamber, Mineleko began to pace the floor feverish- ly. Was it true that the noise which he thought he had heard had escaped all except that superstitious nurse? Was it true that the princess also, during the night, had seen nothing, known nothing? But that stain on the marble, that blood that his wife at his advice had so eagerly washed in order to remove it! Najeska Ivanowna has furnished him, however, with a plausible excuse. Why should this explana- tion be false, after all? If it was she, however, why deny it? From whom came this blood? If there has been a struggle it is the young woman then who has been Eomicbooks.com