she took the handkerchief from her face, glanced keenly at him, took in what he had said, and burst out laughing such a merry, unrestrained laugh, so hearty and gay, that adelaida could not contain herself. she, too, glanced at the prince’s panic-stricken countenance, then rushed at her sister, threw her arms round her neck, and burst into as merry a fit of laughter as aglaya’s own. they laughed together like a couple of school-girls. hearing and seeing this, the prince smiled happily, and in accents of relief and joy, he exclaimed "well, thank god thank god!"