never left him without a
heightened and enhanced sense of my position and my obligations. If you
will, he lowered the man to exalt the king; this was of a piece with all
his wily compromises.

Victoria arrived, and her husband. William Adolphus's attitude was less
apologetic than it had been before marriage; he had made Victoria
mother to a fine baby, and claimed the just credit. He was jovial,
familiar, and, if I may so express myself, brotherly to the last degree.
Happily, however, he interpreted his more assured position as enabling
him to choose his own friends and his own pursuits; these were not mine,
and in consequence I was little troubled with his company. As an ally to
my mother he was a passive failure; his wife was worse than inactive.
Victoria's conduct displayed the height of unwisdom. She denounced the
Countess to my face, and besought my mother to omit the Sempachs from
her list of acquaintances. Fortunately the Princess had been dissuaded
from forcing on an open scandal; my sister had to be content with
matching her mother's coldness by her rudeness when the Countess came to
Court. Need I say that my attentions grew the more marked, and gossip
even more rife?

Wetter's Bill came up for discussion, and was hurled in vain against
Hammerfeldt's solid phalanx of country gentlemen and wealthy
_bourgeoisie_. I had kept a seal on my lips, and in common opinion was
still the Prince's docile disciple. Wetter accepted my attitude with
easy friendliness, but he ventured to observe that if any case arose
which enabled me to show that my hostility to his party was not
inveterate, the proof would be a pleasure to him and his friends, and
possibly of no disadvantage to me. Not the barest reference to the
Countess pointed his remark. I had not seen her or heard from her for
nearly a week; on the afternoon of the day after the Bill was thrown out
I decided to pay her a visit. Wetter was to take luncheon at her house,
and I allowed him to drop a hint of my coming. I felt that I had done my
duty as regards the Bill; I was very apprehensive of my reception by the
Countess. The opposition that encircled me inflamed my passion for her;
the few days' separation had served to convince me that I could not live
without her.

I found her alone; her face was a little flushed and her eyes bright.
The moment the door was shut she turned on me almost fiercely.

"Why did you send to say you were coming?"

"I didn't send; I told