Oldal 215 [215]
KING BIZARRE AND PRINCE CHARMING
kind of pleasure; he hunted, he presided over his council,
he went to the play and the opera, he received all the state
corporations with their wives, he read a Carthaginian novel,
and reviewed the troops half a score of times; but all in
vain: an inexorable memory, an ever-present image left
him no rest or peace. The gipsy pursued him even in his
dreams; he saw her, he talked to her, and she listened to
him; but, by some unaccountable fatality, as soon as she
raised her mask, Pazza’s pale, sad face always appeared.
The doctor was the only confidant to whom Charming
could avow his remorse, but at his word Wieduwillst
burst into laughter.
“The effect of habit, sire,” he said. “Gain time, multiply
impressions, and all will be effaced.”’
To procure the prince excitement and to drive away
sorrow by a bold diversion, the doctor supped every evening
alone with His Majesty, and poured out intoxication and
forgetfulness with a liberal hand. Wieduwillst did not
spare himself, but wine had little effect on his strong
brain; he would have defied Bacchus and Silenus together
with Charming. While the princé, by turn noisy and
silent, plunged into the extremes of joy and sadness, al¬
ways restless and never happy, Wieduwillst, calm and
smiling, directed his thoughts, and through pure goodness
of soul took upon himself all the fatigue and care of the
government.
175