"Shall you finish it soon, Josepha?"
"In an hour, Your Highness!"
"Very well, I shall return about that time, and then we'll try the dress on."
"Oh, your ladyship, it's a sin for me to put on such a handsome gown, nobody will see me."
"Not here, if you don't wish them to do so, but to-morrow evening we shall go to Munich, where you will begin a new life, with no brand upon your brow."
Josepha kissed the countess' hand; a few large tears rolled down on the dress which was to clothe a new creature. Then she helped her mistress to put on a walking toilette, performing her task skillfully and quickly. The latter fixed a long, thoughtful look upon her. "You are somewhat like your cousin, the Christ, are you not?"
"So people say!"
"I suppose he sees a great many ladies?"
"They all run after him, the high as well as the low. And it isn't the strangers only, the village girls are crazy over him, too. He might have any one he wanted, it seems as if he fairly bewitched the women."
"I heard that the reason for his secluded life was that he had a love affair with some noble lady."