Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1868 edition. Excerpt: ... "Nonsense!" cried Ceres, excitedly. "The woman is yet to be born, or rather sent down from heaven, who can touch him. He is haughtiness itself, and has less heart than his cousin. How provoked I used to be at the court-balls, to see him standing in the doorway with his arms crossed as if they were glued together, and looking down so arrogantly upon the crowd. Only when the princess, or one of the royal family, requested him to dance did he stir from the spot, and then he was at no pains to conceal that he cared not a bit for the honour. Well, we know well enough what his requisitions are for the woman, at whose feet he will lay the proud name of von Walde--Ancestors! ancestors she must have, and her pedigree must date from Noah's ark." All laughed, except Elizabeth, who remained very grave. Fraulein von Walde's behaviour had made a deep impression upon her. She was annoyed, and felt that her views of human nature had been lowered. Was such a change possible in the course of a few short hours? The fact just stated by the ladies, that Helene von Walde loved the son of the Baroness Lessen, would have fully explained the influence exercised by the latter to any one of a practical, matter-of fact nature, --but not to Elizabeth. The elevating sentiment, described by the poets of all ages and all climes as the truest and most ennobling of which human nature is capable, could not possibly be an incentive to unworthy conduct; and it was equally hard to imagine how Herr von Hollfeld could inspire that sentiment. Here she judged from the one-sided, personal point of view from which we are prone to pass sentence on others; but whether from the instinct of her true womanly nature, or whether she really possessed the clear insight that sees in the...