"'So do I! replied Elly.
"'And that seems to you quite a matter of course?'
"'My dear child, I didn't think you were so innocent! said Elly; 'everybody knows as much as that. And formerly it was even worse. A true knight always loved another man's wife: it was a great crime to love his own wife. He would cut off his right hand for the stranger's sake, and would die for her, pressing her blue favour to his lips; for you see at that time they always wore her blue favour. You'll find it in every history of literature.'
"Hertha became very thoughtful. 'Ah! in those days!' she said, with the ghost of a smile; 'in those days men went to tournaments and stabbed each other in sport with their lances.'
"'And to-day,' whispered Elly, 'men shoot each other dead with pistols.'
"Hertha felt as if she had been stabbed to the heart, and the little pink and white daughter of Eve continued, 'I think it must be quite delightful when one is married to know that some one is hopelessly in love with you. It's quite certain that most unhappy love affairs arise in that way.'
"The next day Hertha questioned her grandmother.
"'Grandmother, I'm grown up now, aren't I?'
"'Yes--so, so,' answered the old lady.
"'And probably I shall soon be married.'