“I know their faces, too,” said the prince, with a peculiar stress on the words.
“How so?” asked Adelaida, with curiosity.
“What do you know about our faces?” exclaimed the other two, in chorus.
But the prince was silent and serious. All awaited his reply.
“I’ll tell you afterwards,” he said quietly.
“Ah, you want to arouse our curiosity!” said Aglaya. “And how terribly solemn you are about it!”
“Very well,” interrupted Adelaida, “then if you can read faces so well, you must have been in love. Come now; I’ve guessed—let’s have the secret!”
“I have not been in love,” said the prince, as quietly and seriously as before. “I have been happy in another way.”
“How, how?”
“Well, I’ll tell you,” said the prince, apparently in a deep reverie.