"From your admiration of the right of primogeniture."
De Brévannes did not comprehend the amiable meaning of the prince's remark, and replied,—
"You think, then, sir, if I had not been an only son, I should have viewed the subject differently?"
"I think, sir, that your love for your brothers and sisters would completely have changed your view of this subject. But excuse me, madame," said the prince, addressing Bertha, "for talking politics; and without any transition I will ask you, what you thought of the new comedy at the Théâtre Français? Madame de Hansfeld and myself had the pleasure of seeing you, I may not say of remarking you, there."
"Why you could hardly do otherwise," said Bertha, with a little more confidence, "for I was seated beside Madame Girard, who wore so singular a head-dress that it attracted universal attention."
"I assure you, madame," remarked Paula, "that on casting our eyes towards your box, we saw the singular cap, the sobieska of Madame Girard, by chance."
"The comedy seemed to me delightful and replete with interest," said Bertha; "and without knowing the author, M. de Gercourt, I was delighted at his success, he had so many persons who envied him."
"M. de Gercourt, the author, is quite a fashionable man, is he not?" inquired Madame de Hansfeld.
"Yes, madame," replied De Brévannes, "he was one of the five or six most fashionable men in Paris—he ranked even directly after handsome Morville, that star which for so long a time has shone with unrivalled brilliancy: between ourselves, I scarcely know why: it was a ridiculous infatuation, nothing more, for Gercourt and many others have a thousand times more attractions than this assuming M. de Morville."
Paula started when she heard the name so dear to her pronounced.