She commissioned her princely serving-man, who had followed and was never far away from her, to obtain precise intelligence of this notorious Alvan.
Prince Marko did what he could to please her; he knew something of the rumours about Alvan and the baroness.

But why should his lady trouble herself for particulars of such people, whom it could scarcely be supposed she would meet by accident?
He asked her this.

Clotilde said it was common curiosity.

She read him a short lecture on the dismal narrowness of their upper world; and on the advantage of taking an interest in the world below them and more enlightened; a world where ideas were current and speech was wine.

The prince nodded; if she had these opinions, it must be good for him to have them too, and he shared them, as it were, by the touch of her hand, and for the length of time that he touched her hand, as an electrical shock may be taken by one far removed from the battery, susceptible to it only through the link; he was capable of thinking all that came to him from her a blessing--shocks, wounds and disruptions.