t me add: 'Thank God'--and the Innstettens are not.
The Innstettens are merely old, belong to the oldest nobility, if you
like; but what does oldest nobility mean? I will not permit that a von
Briest, or even a figure in the wedding-eve performance, whom
everybody must recognize as the counterpart of our Effi--I will not
permit, I say, that a Briest either in person or through a
representative speak incessantly of 'High Lord.' Certainly not, unless
Innstetten were at least a disguised Hohenzollern; there are some, you
know. But he is not one and hence I can only repeat that it distorts
the whole situation."

For a long time von Briest really held fast to this view with
remarkable tenacity. But after the second rehearsal, at which Kaethchen
was half in costume, wearing a tight-fitting velvet bodice, he was so
carried away as to remark: "Kaethchen lies there beautifully," which
turn was pretty much the equivalent of a surrender, or at least
prepared the way for one. That all these things were kept secret from
Effi goes without saying. With more curiosity on her part, however, it
would have been wholly impossible. But she had so little desire to
find out about the preparations made and the surprises planned that
she declared to her mother with all emphasis: "I can wait and see,"
and, when Mrs. von Briest still doubted her, Effi closed the
conversation with repeated assurances that it was really true and her
mother might just as well believe it. And why not? It was all just a
theatrical performance, and prettier and more poetical than
_Cinderella_, which she had seen on the last evening in Berlin--no, on
second thought, it couldn't be prettier and more poetical. In this
play she herself would have been glad to take a part, even if only for
the purpose of making a chalk mark on the back of the ridiculous
boarding-school teacher. "And how charming in the last act is
'Cinderella's awakening as a princess,' or at least as a countess!
Really, it was just like a fairy tale." She often spoke in this way,
was for the most part more exuberant than before, and was vexed only
at the constant whisperings and mysterious conduct of her girl
friends. "I wish they felt less important and paid more attention to
me. When the time comes they will only forget their lines and I shall
have to be in suspense on their account and be ashamed that they are
my friends."

Thus ran Effi's scoffing remarks and there was no mistaking the fact
that she