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 was watching him inquiringly and seemed to wonder at his sudden silence, he said: “The Countess is of a very independent mind if she dares to defy fashion. I work in vain against it at the court, and that is because we have not one lady there of sufficiently independent mind to defy it and thus set a good example to the rest. My dear Count, if you have nothing else to complain of than that your daughter will not powder and will not wear hooped skirts, that she wishes to arouse in the heart of her future husband a more permanent affection than a mere liking, I pity not you, but her.”

Seeing with surprise the way in which the Emperor estimated his daughter’s nature, the Count recovered his composure.

“She does not deserve these good words from your majesty,” he said, bowing to the Emperor with a grateful smile; “she is a bad and saucy child. She not only repels her admirers, but she is discourteous to everybody whom she does not like, and she is not only out of harmony with the fashion, but dis-