The clay bear or the china monkey--come ?' But the unbreeched soothsayer only stared upon the florin with big eyes; the oracle could not be persuaded to reply; and the Countess kissed him lightly, gave him the florin, set him down upon the path, and resumed her way with swinging and elastic gait.
'Which shall I break ?' she wondered; and she passed her hand with delight among the careful disarrangement of her locks.

'Which ?' and she consulted heaven with her bright eyes.

'Do I love both or neither?
A little--passionately--not at all?
Both or neither--both, I believe; but at least I will make hay of Ratafia.' By the time she had passed the iron gates, mounted the drive, and set her foot upon the broad flagged terrace, the night had come completely; the palace front was thick with lighted windows; and along the balustrade, the lamp on every twentieth baluster shone clear.

A few withered tracks of sunset, amber and glow-worm green, still lingered in the western sky; and she paused once again to watch them fading.
'And to think,' she said, 'that here am I--destiny embodied, a norn, a fate, a providence--and have no guess upon which side I shall declare myself! What other woman in my place would not be prejudiced, and think herself committed?
But, thank Heaven! I was born just!' Otto's windows were bright among the rest, and she looked on them with rising tenderness.

'How does it feel to be deserted ?' she thought.