'He is gentilhomme de race, I grant,' admitted with reluctance the Grand Duke of Lilienhöhe.
'When has a noble of Brittany been otherwise?' asked the Princess Ottilie.
'I know,' said the Prince; 'but you will admit that he occupies a difficult position—an invidious one.'
'And he carries himself well through it. It is a difficult position which is the test of breeding,' said the Princess, triumphantly, 'and I deny entirely that it is what you call an invidious one. It is you who have the idea of the crowd when you lay so much stress on the mere absence of money.'
'It is the idea of the crowd that dominates in this age.'
'The more reason for us to resist it, if it be so.'
'I think you are in love with him yourself, my sister!'
'I should be were I forty years younger.'
The Countess Brancka alone wrote with any sort of sympathy and pleasure to congratulate them both.
'I was sure that Parsifal would win soon or late,' she said. 'Only remember that he is a Parsifal doublé by a de Morny.'