'I am quite aware that I shall be led like a sacrifice, dressed in brocade,' rejoined the girl laughing bitterly. 'Such a future is unavoidable.'
'Yes, for you know that you cannot resist the will of your mother and that of the Princess and the Prince.'
'Who has no will whatever,' said the girl ironically.
'Silence!' interrupted her mother threateningly. 'I came to tell you about happiness, and I found shame!'
'It was not necessary to tell me of that which I was aware. Sulkowski is married, consequently I must marry the other minister, Brühl. I expected that. Indeed, it's a great happiness!'
'Greater than you deserve,' answered her mother. 'What could you have against the nicest man in the world?'
'Nothing whatever; I am as indifferent to him as if he were the most stupid and the most horrid. He or another is just the same to me, if I can not marry the one whom I love.'
'Don't dare to pronounce his name: I hate him! If he dares to make one step he is lost!'
'I shall warn him: I don't wish him to come to nought: I wish him to avenge me.'
'Don't you dare to speak to him! I forbid you!'