Most Germans have..."
"Alors," she broke in fiercely, her voice shaking with passion,
"you know what an ignoble canaille is this young man, without
even enough decency of feeling to respect the troops of whom he
has demanded such bloody sacrifices. At Metz we were near enough
to the fighting to realize the blood and tears of this war. But
the Prince thought of nothing, but his own amusement. To live as
he did, within sound of the guns, with parties every night, women
and dancing and roulette and champagne suppers--bah! c'etait trop
fort! It awakened in me the love of country which lies dormant in
all of us. I wanted to help my country, lest I might sink as low
as he..."
"One day the Prince brought a young officer friend of his to dine
with me. This officer had come from the Eastern front and had
been present at the capture of Warsaw. After dinner he took a
leather case out of his pocket and said to the Prince: "I have
brought your Imperial Highness a little souvenir from Poland!" As
he spoke he touched a spring and the case flew open, displaying
an enormous diamond, nearly as big as the great Orloff diamond
which I have seen at Petrograd, surrounded by five other
brilliants, the whole set like a star.
"'The Star of Poland,' said the young officer (the Prince called
him 'Erich;' I never heard his full name), 'it comes from the
long-lost Coronation sword of the Polish kings.
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