It stung him to the quick.
This woman's calmness began to irritate him, but at the same time it increased his passion.
At first he had only intended to carry on a short intrigue with Countess Hoym, but he now saw that this would be more difficult than he had thought or calculated.
Anna laughed, jested, and was very amusing; she was evidently trying to entangle the King, but she herself remained calm and inaccessible. Instead of approaching his object, with the good fortune of Jupiter, Augustus perceived that he was drifting away from it.
At the close of the conversation, when the King became more pressing, and no longer concealed his ardour, he begged for a small place in the heart of the beautiful lady. Anna, who had already grown familiar with him, replied with precision,--
"Your Majesty forces me to make an unpleasant avowal. I am one of those unfortunate, feeble creatures, whose pride is their only strength. If your Majesty imagines that, dazzled by the allurements held out to me, I shall forget the respect due to myself, or that, carried away by a momentary madness, I shall forget the future, your Majesty is mistaken. Anna Hoym will never become the King's temporary favourite. She will give her whole heart, and for ever, or nothing."
Having said this, she rose and passed into the drawing-room.
Immediately after this, the King, accompanied by Fürstenberg, quietly left Countess Reuss's house. The Countess followed him to the hall, Augustus's face was gloomy and sad. From this, his hostess guessed how Anna had treated the King, but she was glad of it, for their relations promised to be the more lasting in proportion to the difficulty of the commencement. A short love intrigue, that did not overthrow the Princess Teschen, would not accord with her plans, for through Anna she expected that her own influence would be more firmly established.
"Dear Countess," whispered the King, as he bade her farewell, "try to animate that beautiful statue."
Before Countess Reuss could reply, the King had descended the stairs. The conversation that ensued between him and such an intimate friend as Fürstenberg was different.