e smallest dog that
any one had ever seen. It was so tiny that she used to carry it, when in
evening dress, in the front of her decolletage. One night at dinner as
she leaned forward to eat her soup, the dog fell into the plate. There
was vermicelli in the soup, and before she could fish it out of this
entanglement, the poor little thing was drowned! Another time the Frau
Direktor showed us a photograph of a very slim and shapely young dragoon
in full regalia, cloak and all, holding a letter up to hide his face. As
there was evidently a story we begged her to tell it to us. She said
that there had been a certain young married Countess of the court, who
was known as a great prude and was always boasting of her exaggerated
wifely devotion. Her airs became, said the Frau Direktor, quite
insufferable, and so she herself resolved to put such armour-plate
virtue to the test. At Carnival time, therefore, she dressed herself as
a young officer for a ball at which the _Hofgesellschaft_ was to be
present, and a very dashing figure she made, according to the picture.
In this disguise she then proceeded to give the Countess the rush of her
life. The gallant pursued the virtuous Countess all the evening, and
was rewarded by being asked to escort her ladyship to her home. In the
carriage the "Lieutenant's" attentions became still more pressing, when
to his secret dismay, the fair creature suddenly melted entirely, cast
herself into his arms, and swore she adored him. Arrived at her house,
the "Lieutenant" beat a hasty retreat vowing all sorts of things for
their next meeting, which naturally never took place. But the vanished
Lieutenant did not resemble the gentlemen of Virginia who kiss and never
tell, for the Countess' share in the story leaked out, and her
reputation for unassailable devotion was irreparably damaged, to the
great satisfaction of all her acquaintance.

CHAPTER XIII

HUMAN PASSIONS AND SMALLPOX

At the beginning of the season, the director's family was still in the
country, where they remained until the opera had been running for some
time. We met his wife and daughter for the first time at a luncheon
given by him at the hotel where we had arranged to take our two o'clock
dinner, after trying all sorts of unsuccessful ways of dining in
private. The stage manager of the drama, the first and second
Kapellmeister, the "Bureau Chef," the Heldentenor, Heldenbariton, High
Dramatic, Coloratura, my sister and mys