'How can that be,' said Brühl, 'to have success and not be happy?'
'For one can be happy but not successful,' exclaimed the old woman. 'And would you know the reason that you will lack happiness,--you have no heart.'
Brühl smiled ironically.
'You don't love anybody,' continued the woman.
'What more?' he asked.
'You are ungrateful,' she whispered, 'you are blind, you are only pursuing greatness.'
'I see,' said Brühl, 'that you take me for somebody else.'
The woman wrote on his palm; Brühl withdrew his hand, mixed quickly with the crowd and disappeared. Perchance he preferred to wander unknown among the guests. At length he noticed a woman who absorbed his whole attention.
Her fantastic, oriental costume, was meant to represent some queen, Semiramis or Cleopatra, it was difficult to say who, for its magnificence was greater than its historical exactness. The great thing in those days was to be magnificently dressed, not archaeologically exact. So the lady, who wished to appear a majestic ruler, succeeded by means of her dress which was made of gold brocade, over which a transparent veil fell from her diamond crown to her dainty feet; round her white neck hung a magnificent amethyst necklace; her girdle was set with diamonds; she held a sceptre in her hand; and her bearing was that of one who ruled not only over people, but also over their hearts.
Her hair was dark, covered with gold powder; the lower part of her face was of great beauty.