“My dear child, you talk as if you had only to hold up your finger and Michael would come whenever you chose to claim him. But that is not the case. He would be little Philippa’s bridegroom now if she would have taken him.”
“I only wish she had!”
“Lida, this is childish. Michael can give you a crown, and you don’t find crowns hanging on every bush. The eligible princes of Europe are not contending for the light of your beaux yeux, my dear—far from it. You must take what you can get, or you will end by getting nothing.”
“It’s very hard,” pouted Princess Lida, “that the only person I can get should be so horrid. Bettine had no trouble of this kind. Look how devoted Albrecht is to her.”
“I know he is, my dear child; but that can’t be helped. Bettine’s marriage was arranged for her just as yours was, and we could not tell how differently Michael and Albrecht would turn out. Of course circumstances were more favourable at the time of her wedding. Your father’s death, and your brother’s unkind behaviour in depriving us of a home, place us in a difficult position at present, and Michael does not show the consideration he might. But for your comfort, Lida, I will say this. Michael is one of the most pliable men I know, if you take him the right way. Once get rid of his present companions, and make yourself necessary to him, and he will be your devoted slave as long as you take care not to pull the chain too tight.”
“I should like to snap it at once. I don’t want to marry him. Mamma, you married for love, didn’t you?”
“My dear Lida!” The Princess was shocked. “Who has been talking to you of such things? You have picked up a wrong idea, of course. What really happened was only that when my father chose to turn against the lover whom he had himself recommended to me, I did not.”
“I knew that was it! And you married him?”
“I did; but then, you see, we had been allowed to fall in love with one another. I have taken care that there should be no complication of the sort in your case.”
“But Bettine and Albrecht love one another.”