She could not refrain from saying:

"You do the king great injustice; he has a noble mind and is full of
intelligence."

"Intelligence! I know all about that," replied Eberhard. "He can ask
questions without number, propound problems and, for his dessert, would
fain have an epitome of ecclesiastical history, physiology or any other
interesting department of knowledge. But he never applies himself;
never reads a work through. He requires excerpts and essences. I know
all about it. And the courtly roulade singers place their thoughts at
his service. Don't imagine, my child, that I underrate the king's
efforts. They've always told him: 'You are a genius!' They are always
persuading kings that they possess genius, either military, political
or artistic. All who approach a monarch are obliged, even in an
intellectual sense, to attire themselves in court dress. He never sees
men and things in their true colors; they all drape themselves to
please him. Nevertheless, I believe the king honestly endeavors to see
things as they are, and that's a great deal; but he can't shake off the
magic spell of set forms and phrases."

Irma's lips trembled with emotion. She did not believe that her father
meant to weaken her interest in the king, since he could not know of
its existence; but his antagonism irritated her and she saw, with
alarm, that no help was to be looked for in that quarter. She might
have shared her father's solitude, if he had honored the exalted man as
she did. He might have done homage to the noble mind, even though it
was a monarch's, without doing violence to his republican feelings, or
his sense of justice. But now he destroyed every bridge that had led to
a better understanding and to justice. If another had spoken thus of
the king, she would have made him feel her wrath, and now she felt that
her silence was a sufficient sacrifice to filial duty. Her heart seemed
to close up within itself, as if never again to be opened. She was a
stranger in her father's house, and now doubly felt that she had never
been at home there. She forced herself to appear cheerful and tranquil.

Eberhard observed that an inner conflict agitated her, and thought it
was merely a struggle between court life and solitude. He did not aid
her, for he thought that she could best gain peace if she fought the
battle for herself.

On Sunday morning--Eberhard never went to church--he said:

"Have you time to listen to a long story?"

"Cert