“Still, as you have given your word, I don’t think you must break off with him just at present. Stay here with me for a time, and see how a Court life suits you. My nephew will have plenty of opportunities of meeting you here, and in time everything will arrange itself quietly, without any trouble.”
So the compact was sealed between the two, and Dorothea remained.
She found her new position rather trying at first, but it was made as easy for her as possible by the thoughtfulness of Hermengarde, who kept her close to herself, and only suffered her to make the acquaintance of one or two of the ladies in attendance.
Among these was the Chancellor’s daughter, whom Hermengarde apparently had no desire to keep in the dark. Dorothea, of course, had no knowledge of the former relations between the Lady von Sigismark and Maximilian, but Gertrude was on the defensive from the first, against the girl whom she considered in the light of a rival.
Matters were not improved in this quarter by the rather obvious preference which Prince Ernest showed for the peasant girl; and it taxed all his mother’s resources to keep up the fiction of an intimacy between Gertrude and the Prince. So unlike his mother did the boy show himself in everything, and so different from all that she sought to make him, that there were times when, in her despair, she was ready to admit to herself that Von Stahlen’s designation of him as “The Changeling” was not altogether wide of the mark.
Although Dorothea’s installation in her household had been so quietly managed, the Princess did not, of course, expect it to remain a secret for many hours. Palaces are built of glass, and Hermengarde had taken her measures with a view to that publicity which she affected to shun.
She was, therefore, perfectly prepared for the visit of the Chancellor, whom she received with easy cordiality.
“You are not looking quite yourself to-day, Count,” she observed, after he had seated himself at her invitation. “I hope it is not true that you have been harassed in the cabinet by the King’s Socialist friend?”
The Count had not expected this attack. He turned his eyes away as he responded cautiously—
“The King is of a generous disposition, and no doubt it carries him farther than is quite prudent at times. However, I am happy to say that his Majesty and I understand each other. We have just had a conversation, at which the Socialist, as your Royal Highness terms him, was not present, and I think I may say that there is no immediate cause for anxiety in that direction.”