The girl carelessly placed the amulet round her neck.
"Oh, I shall do very well, dear uncle," she replied. "I am quite content to trust to His Highness."
"But it is you yourself who must keep the faith alive within you when in the midst of idolaters," said the Lutheran Prince sternly.
"You speak like Grandfather Hesse!" cried the girl peevishly. "I believe you regret my marriage already, but, as I wrote His Highness, God wills it, and the Devil shall not hinder it!"
His frown deepened and a flush of anger mounted to his cheek.
"I shall regret it if you behave like a wilful child, dear niece."
"I have put on your amulet," returned Anne ungraciously. "What else would you? And my serving-women wait——"
"I shall not keep you from them," interrupted the Elector, "but remember that there are more serious matters than gowns and chains appertaining to this marriage."
With that he turned away, for he saw that to argue further with the bride was useless, since her natural pride and vanity had been augmented past reason by the excitement and importance of her present position.
Anne was, indeed, almost beside herself. For three years she had been bent on this marriage with all the passion of which she was capable. She wanted her freedom, she wanted increased grandeur, she wanted the enjoyments of the gay court of Brussels—of which she had heard so much—and she believed herself violently enamoured of the gorgeous cavalier whom she had seen once on the occasion of his visit to Dresden and who was to be her husband.