"Not at all; he was christened by your name, which he bears."
"In the church register! He is called Raoul; your wife has seen to that."
"It is the name of Hortense's father, and she clings to it with filial devotion. You know this, and you have never found any fault with it."
"If it were the name alone! But it is not the only thing foreign to me in my grandson. There is no trace of the Steinrück in Raoul, either in face or in character; he resembles his mother."
"I should not reckon that against him. Hortense has always been considered a beauty. You have no idea how many conquests she still makes."
The words were uttered in seeming jest, but they met with no response in the manner of the old Count, who remained grave and cold. "That probably accounts for her attachment to the scene of such triumphs. You spend more time in France with her relatives than you do at home. Your visits there are more frequent and more prolonged as time goes on, and there is some talk now, I hear, of your being attached to our embassy in Paris. Then Hortense will have attained her desire."
"I must go wherever I am sent," Albrecht said in self-exculpation, "and if they select me----"
"What? playing your diplomatic game with me?" his father interrupted him harshly. "I know well enough what secret wires are pulled, and the position is but an insignificant one. I expected better things of your career, Albrecht. There were paths enough open to you whereby to attain eminence, but to do so needed ambition and energy, neither of which qualities have you ever possessed. Now you are applying for a position which you will owe entirely to your name, and which you may occupy for a decade without advancing a step,--and all in obedience to the wishes of your wife."
Albrecht bit his lip at this reproof, uttered as it was with almost brutal frankness.
"In this respect, papa, you have always been unjust; you never regarded my marriage with any favour. I thought myself secure of your approval of my choice, and you have all but reproached me for bringing home to you a beautiful, talented daughter from one of the most distinguished----"