Is it yes?
Is it no ?" "This evening?
To-morrow ?" exclaimed the Prince, shaking his head with a most comical gesture.

"I can not decide like that.

It is an ambush! I come to talk, to consult you." "And on what ?" asked Madame Steno, with a vivacity almost impatient.
"Can I tell you anything you do not already know?
In twenty-four hours, in forty-eight, in six months, what difference will there be, I pray you?
We must look at things as they are, however.

To-morrow, the day after, the following days, will you be less embarrassed ?" "No," said the Prince, "but--" "There is no but," she resumed, allowing him to say no more than she had allowed her intendant.

The despotism natural to puissant personalities scorned to be disguised in her, when there were practical decisions in which she was to take part.