"Nonsense, Otto! Do you mean to say that after all these years, you would desert me on account of a girl?"
"I shall send in my papers to-morrow," said Otto, and looking the Prince in the eyes he added, "if I were wearing my sabre now, I should break it in your presence--you are not worthy of the service of a true blade!" His hands made the gesture of snapping the blade over his knee; he turned on his heel.
Mirko sprang from the couch, upsetting the little table standing by it, with its box of cigarettes, decanter and glass. The bottle crashed to the floor and a sticky stream of liqueur crept over the carpet.
"Otto!" he cried. The other turned stiffly.
"Otto, you are right, I don't deserve a friend like you,--I have behaved like a blackguard. You may believe me or not,--I didn't mean to do the girl any harm. She--she went to my head, she maddened me! Hang it all! Why didn't she keep me at arm's length?"
"She trusted you," said Angelescu accusingly.
"Now look here, Otto, as man to man, if that girl in her heart of hearts hadn't wished me--"
"You damned cur," flashed Angelescu, "_you_ to lay the blame on a woman! If you say another word I shall choke you where you stand. I--"
He threw out his arm, then realizing that he could control himself no longer, he wrenched open the door and strode out, flinging it to behind him.
Mirko flushed angrily. That he should have humbled himself to meet this response!
"You'll pay for that, my friend," he snarled. He turned thinking to pour himself a glass of liqueur and the sight of the broken decanter and its wasted contents completed his discomfiture. He was furious with Angelescu, furious with Ragna, all the more so as he was distinctly conscious of having played a very ugly role.
"Damn the girl, I wish I had never seen her!"
His servant, coming in response to his furious summons, met with a most unpleasant reception; he was used, however, to acting as _souffre douleur_ in his Royal Master's fits of anger and philosophically bore the storm of invective hurled at his defenceless head.
The outburst had its usual calming effect on Mirko, who to do him justice, soon felt thoroughly ashamed of himself. Most of all he regretted the estrangement of Angelescu; from boyhood up he had always depended on Otto's devotion and clear judgment, and to have lost such a friend over such a foolish affair would be much too hard luck, a punishment far in excess of his fault. The wrong done to Ragna was much less important in his eyes; like every Don Juan, he had a contempt for women, and now that his passion had subsided he wondered what had attracted him in the girl, who after all was no great beauty.