ing the next day,--"my dear child, the most
astonishing sight you will see to-morrow will be the pearl of
Gerolstein."

"Of whom are you talking, my dear aunt?"

"Of the Princess Amelie."

"The grand duke's daughter? Lord Dudley spoke of her at Vienna
with warmth we suspected of exaggeration."

"At my age and in my position," replied my aunt, "people do not
exaggerate, so you can trust to my judgment, and I assure you I
never knew any one more enchanting than the Princess Amelie. I
would speak of her beauty were it not for an indefinable charm
she possesses, superior even to her beauty. From the first day
that the grand duke presented me to her, I felt myself
irresistibly drawn towards her; and I am not the only person.
The Archduchess Sophia is at Gerolstein, and is the most proud
and haughty princess I know."

"Very true, aunt; her irony is terrible, very few persons escape
from her sarcasms; at Vienna every one dreaded her. Can the
Princess Amelie have found favour in her eyes?"

"The other day she came here after visiting the asylum placed
under the princess's direction. 'Do you know,' said this
redoubtable archduchess to me, 'that if I resided long with the
grand duke's daughter I should become quite harmless, so
contagious is her goodness!'"

"Why, my cousin must be an enchantress!" said I, laughing, to my
aunt.

"Her most powerful charm, at least in my eyes," replied my aunt,
"is the mixture of sweetness, modesty, and dignity that I have
told you of, and which gives a most touching expression to her
face."

"Indeed, aunt, modesty is a rare quality in a princess so young,
so beautiful, and so happy."

"Reflect that the princess is still more deserving of praise for
her modesty, as her elevation is so very recent."

"In her interview with you, aunt, did the princess make any
reference to her early life?"

"No; but when, notwithstanding my advanced age, I addressed her
with the respect due to her rank, since her royal highness is
the grand duke's daughter, her ingenuous confusion, mingled with
gratitude and veneration for me, quite overpowered me; for her
reserve, full of dignity and affability, proved to me that her
present elevation did not make her forget her past life, and
that she accorded to my age what I accorded to her rank."