ers thrown into the cold waters of the Seine, as soon
as he quitted her soft, warm arms, and she was described thus to Count
Otto F., a handsome cavalry officer, who had made the acquaintance of the
beautiful, dangerous woman at that fashionable watering place, Karlsbad,
and had fallen deeply in love with her.

Even before he had been introduced to her, the Princess had already
exchanged fiery, encouraging glances with him, and when a brother officer
took him to call on her, she welcomed him with a smile which appeared to
promise him happiness, but after he had paid his court to her for a
month, he did not seem to have made any progress, and as she possessed in
a high degree the skill of being able to avoid even the shortest private
interviews, it appeared as if matters would go no further than that
delightful promise.

Night after night, the enamored young officer walked along the garden
railings of her villa as close to her windows as possible, without being
noticed by any one, and at last fortune seemed to favor him. The moon,
which was nearly at the full, was shining brightly, and in its silvery
light he saw a tall, female figure, with large plaits round her head,
coming along the grave path; he stood still, as he thought he recognized
the Princess, but as she came nearer he saw a pretty girl, whom he did
not know, and who came up to the railings and said to him with a smile:
"What can I do for you, Count?" mentioning his name.

"You seem to know me, Fraeulein." "Oh! I am only the Princess's
lady's-maid." ... "But you could do me a great favor." "How?" she asked
quickly: "You might give the Princess a letter." ... "I should not
venture to do that," the girl replied with a peculiar, half-mocking,
half-pitying smile, and with a deep curtsey, she disappeared behind
the raspberry bushes which formed a hedge along the railings.

The next morning, as the Count, with several other ladies and gentlemen,
was accompanying the Princess home from the pump-room, the fair coquette
let her pocket-handkerchief fall just outside her house. The young
officer took this for a hint, so he picked it up, concealed the letter
that he had written, which he always kept about him so as to be prepared
for any event, in the folds of the soft cambric, and gave it back to the
Princess, who quickly put it into her pocket. That also seemed to him to
be a good augury, and, in fact, in the course of a few hours he received
a note in disguised hand