One of the upper servants entered a chamber as the Prince was in
the act of demolishing a splendid malachite table, which had
escaped all his previous attacks. He was immediately greeted with
a cry of,--
"Send the Princess to me!"
"Her Highness is not able to leave her chamber," the man replied.
How it happened he could never afterwards describe but he found
himself lying in a corner of the room. When he arose, there seemed
to be a singular cavity in his mouth: his upper front teeth were
wanting.
We will not narrate what took place in the chamber of the Princess.
The nerves of the unfortunate woman had been so wrought upon by her
fears, that her husband's brutal rage, familiar to her from long
experience, now possessed a new and alarming significance. His
threats were terrible to hear; she fell into convulsions, and
before morning her tormented life was at an end.
There was now something else to think of, and the smashing of
porcelain and cracking of whips came to an end. The Archimandrite
was summoned, and preparations, both religious and secular, were
made for a funeral worthy the rank of the deceased.
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