Manchurian Books

Is it not so?"
"It is not so, Countess," said Cologne solemnly.
"Prince Roland, it is true, made no stipulation regarding you."
"I was sure of it. Any Gretchen in Germany would have done just as well.
I was merely part of the bargain he was compelled to make with you, and
now I announce to the Court that no power on earth will induce me to
marry Prince Roland. I claim the right of my womanhood to wed only the
man whom I love, and who loves me!"
Mayence gave utterance to an exclamation that might be coarsely
described as a snort of contempt. The Elector of Treves was leaning back
in his chair discomfited by her abrupt desertion of him. The Elector of
Cologne now leaned forward, dismayed at the turn affairs had taken, deep
anxiety visible on his brow.
"Countess von Sayn," he began, and thus his ward realized how deeply she
had offended, "in all my life I never met any young man who impressed me
so favorably as Prince Roland of Germany. If I possessed a daughter whom
I dearly loved, I could wish her no better fortune than to marry so
honest a youth as he.


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