“You intend, perhaps, to enter the ranks of her adorers?”
“I only aspire to being among her friends at present.”
“But I can tell you she will not be satisfied with anything less than the most unlimited devotion.”
“I dare say she will find people enough willing to comply with her demands.”
“Do you think so? If everything ends like the Zedwitz affair, it would be better if she turned her mind to something rational. You know,” she added, lowering her voice confidentially, “you know that at Seon, and also here, she encouraged Count Max Zedwitz in every possible manner; met him in the cloisters, and sat beside him at table every day at Seon, and here let him know every time she went on a walking party——”
“I think,” said Hamilton “you are rather mistaken in supposing that she——”
“Oh, I am not at all mistaken. She made him, in the most artful, deliberate manner, so in love that he actually took it into his head to marry her. Such an idea, you know! And his father a knight of St. George, and all that.”
“I was not aware that his father being a knight of St. George could make any difference.”
“What! When they can prove sixteen noble generations on both sides! When Count Max can become a knight of St. George whenever he pleases! When marrying a person who is not noble would deprive his children and children’s children of the right of claiming an order which can be obtained on no other terms.”
“Ah, I understand.”