'No, oh no; he is too proud: only we all are aware of his wishes. Wanda, do you know that you have some cruelty in you, some sternness?'
'I think not. The cruelty would be to grant the wishes. With a loveless wife Egon, would be much more unhappy than he is now.'
'Oh, after a few months he would not care, you know; they never do. To unite your fortunes is the great thing; you could lead your lives as you liked.'
'Our fortunes do very well apart,' said the Countess von Szalras, with a patience which cost her some effort.
'Yours is immense,' said Madame Brancka, with a sigh, for her own and her husband's wealth had been seriously involved by extravagance and that high play in which they both indulged. 'And it must accumulate in your hands. You cannot spend much. I do not see how you could spend much. You never receive; you never go to your palaces; you never leave Hohenszalras; and you are so wise a woman that you never commit any follies.'
Wanda was silent. It did not appear to her that she was called on to discuss her expenditure.
Dinner was announced; their attendants took away the children; the Princess woke up from a little dose, and said suddenly, 'Olga, is M. de Sabran elected?'
'Aunt Ottilie,' said her niece, hastily, 'has lost her affections to that gentleman, because he painted her saint on a screen and had all old Haydn at his fingers' ends.'
'The election does not take place until next month,' said the Countess. 'He will certainly be returned, because of the blind fidelity of the department to his name. The odd thing is that he should wish to be so.'
'Wanda told him it was his duty,' said Princess Ottilie, with innocent malice.