'I don't know' Sulkowski said, 'whether your Majesty deigned to look at Adelaida Stein, but I venture to insist that she is unusually beautiful. If our lord the King, Augustus the Strong, of blessed memory, were alive, I am sure he would admire her extremely.'
The King turned, looked at Sulkowski, but said not a word. Sulkowski laughed, took the King's hand and kissed it.
'I am your Majesty's old servant,' continued he, 'and I admire my lord's virtue. Your Majesty lives like a model nobleman, although kings have some privileges. During the performance to-day I noticed with what admiration the women looked towards your Majesty. Adelaida Stein told my wife that she never saw a better-looking man than your Majesty.'
He became silent. The King played with his china pipe and did not look at him, pretending that he heard not the tempter.
'Faustina sang like a nightingale,' said the King, changing the drift of the conversation.
'But Faustina looks well only on the stage. If I am not mistaken she is nearly forty and Italian women grow old quickly; Adelaida Stein is lovely.'
Augustus III, instead of answering, shrugged his shoulders.
'May it be permitted me to express my admiration? Your Majesty might be a saint, and yet not a happy man. The court is not a monastery.'
Augustus III listened, looking at the ceiling.
'Would your Majesty permit my wife to present her relation at court?' asked Sulkowski not abashed at the King's silence.