All burst out laughing, but the King looked at him inquisitively.
"You may laugh," continued Hoym, "but the man who has not seen her, has not seen Venus, and I think even Venus herself would look rather like a country washerwoman, if placed beside her. Can I describe her? In her eyes alone there is so much power that no mortal could resist her. Praxiteles could not have shaped a more perfect form. It is impossible to describe the charm of her smile, and yet the stern goddess does not smile every day."
They nodded, but without believing what he said. Hoym would have stopped here, but the King said,--
"Describe her better, Hoym."
"Who can describe perfection?" said Hoym, raising his eyes. "She possesses every good quality, and has not one single drawback."
"I am quite ready to believe that she is beautiful," exclaimed Lagnasco, "for fickle Hoym has been constant to her for three years."
"He exaggerates! He is drunk!" interrupted Fürstenberg. "Would you dare to say that she is more beautiful than the Princess Teschen?"
Hoym shrugged his shoulders, and glanced timidly at the King, who said quietly,--
"There must be no consideration, except for the truth. Is she more beautiful than Lubomirska?"
"Your Majesty," exclaimed Hoym enthusiastically, "the Princess is a beautiful woman, but my wife is a goddess. There is not another woman anywhere, at the court, in the city, in the whole of Saxony, or indeed in the whole of Europe, who is as beautiful as my wife!"