Pagina 342 de 2288

"There, that's enough, that's enough! You're wretched too, I

know. It can't be helped. There's no great harm done. God is

merciful ... thanks...." he said, not knowing what he was saying,

as he responded to the tearful kiss of the princess that he felt

on his hand. And the prince went out of the room.

Before this, as soon as Kitty went out of the room in tears,

Dolly, with her motherly, family instincts, had promptly

perceived that here a woman's work lay before her, and she

prepared to do it. She took off her hat, and, morally speaking,

tucked up her sleeves and prepared for action. While her mother

was attacking her father, she tried to restrain her mother, so

far as filial reverence would allow. During the prince's outburst

she was silent; she felt ashamed for her mother, and tender

towards her father for so quickly being kind again. But when her

father left them she made ready for what was the chief thing

needful-to go to Kitty and console her.