''
``That shows my generosity. But, seriously, I don't see
what there is against Wratislav. He has no debts---at
least, nothing worth speaking about.''
``But think of his reputation! If half the things they say
about him are true---''
``Probably three-quarters of them are. But what of it?
You don't want an archangel for a son-in-law.''
``I don't want Wratislav. My poor Elsa would be miserable
with him.''
``A little misery wouldn't matter very much with her; it
would go so well with the way she does her hair, and if she
couldn't get on with Wratislav she could always go and do
good among the poor.''
The Baroness picked up a framed photograph from the table.
``He certainly is very handsome,'' she said doubtfully;
adding even more doubtfully, ``I dare say dear Elsa might
reform him.''
The Gr
fin had the presence of mind to laugh in the
right key.
*
Three weeks later the Grfin bore down upon the
Baroness Sophie in a foreign bookseller's shop in the
Graben, where she was, possibly, buying books of devotion,
though it was the wrong counter for them.
``I've just left the dear children at the Rodenstahls',''
was the Grfin's greeting.
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