And in spite of this he felt that then, when his love was stronger, he could, if he had greatly wished it, have torn that love out of his heart; but now, when as at that moment it seemed to him he felt no love for her, he knew that what bound him to her could not be broken.

"Well, well, what was it you were going to say about the prince? I have driven away the fiend," she added.

The fiend was the name they had given her jealousy.

" What did you begin to tell me about the prince? Why did you find it so tiresome?" "Oh, it was intolerable!" he said, trying to pick up the thread of his interrupted thought.