CHAPTER XXVI
FREDERICK AUGUSTUS CONTINUES VERY RAW
Manners _a la_ barracks natural to royal princes--Names I am called--My ladies scandalized--Leopold turned over a new leaf, according to agreement, and is well treated--The King grateful to me for having "influenced Leopold to be good."
LOSCHWITZ, _October 1, 1894_.
I have tried it a fortnight during Frederick Augustus" sojourn here, and, like the French Countess who fell in love with the strong man of the circus, I am disappointed. Frederick Augustus considers my tractability _carte blanche_ to carry into the boudoir of an Imperial Princess the license of the brothel. He treats me like a kept-woman--all with the utmost good-nature. I am called names such as the other Augustus bestowed on the mothers of his three hundred and fifty-two, and I daren"t remind him that some day I"ll be Queen of these realms.
This prince, like the majority of them, hasn"t the ghost of an idea of a sensitive woman"s nature. He paws me over like a prize cow, and as the fourteenth Louis esteemed his mistress"s chamber-women no more worthy of notice than her lap-dogs, so Frederick Augustus makes love _a la_ barracks before the Schoenberg, Countess von Minckwitz, or whatever other lady is in attendance.
Only when he does it before the Tisch I am inclined to be amused rather than incensed. Tisch, cadaverous beanpole, never felt a loving touch on her shoulder. The place where her bosom should be never experienced a friendly squeeze. No one ever cared whether she wore silk stockings or rubber boots--be amorous, Frederick Augustus, when the Tisch is "round!
Indulge your coa.r.s.eness! Put twenty-mark pieces in my stockings for a kiss. Tell gay stories and don"t forget playing with my corsage. It will make the old woman mad. It will remind her of what she missed--of what she will miss all her life!
LOSCHWITZ, _October 10, 1894_.
Letter from Leopold. He is going to church and--they leave his mistress in peace.
He is paying ba.n.a.l compliments to the n.o.ble-women of his garrison and pinches the officers" wives when he finds one in a corner--and they seem to live in corners when His Imperial Highness is around--hence, no more anonymous letters!
The spy planted in his household by the Emperor is allowed to see much of the "innocent" correspondence pa.s.sing between me and Leopold. He has reported to Francis Joseph that the Prince turned over a new leaf.
Result: Leopold"s debts have been paid and he got about two thousand marks over and above his wants.
Further results: A gracious letter from the King"s House Marshal, Baron Carlowitz, praising me for "the good influence I am exercising on Leopold."
Truly the world wants to be deceived.
CHAPTER XXVII
PRINCE MAX MAKES LOVE TO ME
Wants me to consult him on all spiritual matters--Warns me against the Kaiser, the heretic bishop--Princes as ill-mannered as Russian-Jew up-starts.
DRESDEN, _November 15, 1894_.
Prince Max called on me the day of my arrival and promised me an armchair in Paradise for "reforming" Leopold. "I understand that your family life is ideal now," he added. "What bliss!"
"Oh, Louise," he continued, with the face of a donkey withdrawing his nozzle from a syrup barrel, "whenever doubtful of the right way, of the Lord"s way, come to me."
It would have been un-politic to repulse the grotesque ape, and I said: "I will. I will even give you the preference over the Kaiser, who asked me the same thing--as _summus episcopus_, of course."
Max looked about the room. We were alone, yet he lowered his voice to a faint whisper. "William is a heretic. Don"t trust him in religious matters," he breathed stealthily. And this devilish Max began to stroke my hands and admire a bracelet I wore above the elbow.
The Kaiser wouldn"t have gone much further under the circ.u.mstances.
Maybe he would have kissed my arm, though, from wrist to pit.
Tonight family tea in the Queen"s _salon_. The King an icicle, but polite as a French marquis. He gave me the three "_How art thou"s_" in the s.p.a.ce of five minutes, asked after the babies and promised to come and look them over.
Frederick Augustus, half insane with delight, pinched my arm and squeezed my leg under the table. I felt like boxing his ears.
My father-in-law had to behave in the presence of the King and said a few commonplaces to me.
Johann George and Isabella talked automobiles, not to let us forget they are millionaires.
"How much did you pay for my blue car?" asked Isabella.
"Not much," replied Johann George; "sixty thousand francs, if I recollect rightly."
"My allowance for a whole year." I smiled my sweetest, and the King looked disapprovingly at the braggarts.
For ill manners recommend me to a Russian-Jew upstart or to a Royal Highness.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE SHAH OF PERSIA FALLS IN LOVE WITH ME
The "animal" and his show of diamonds and rubies--Overcome by love he treats me like a lady of the harem--On the defensive--The King of kings an ill-behaved brute--Eats like a pig and affronts Queen---Wiped off greasy hands on my state robe--When ten thousand gouged-out eyes carpeted his throne--Offers of jewels--"Does he take me for a ballet girl?"--The Shah almost compromises me--King, alarmed, abruptly ends dinner--I receive presents from him.
DRESDEN, _November 20, 1894_.
Lover No. two. Very much in earnest, like the first, but I--extremely distant this time, though I accepted some emeralds and sapphires as big as dove"s eggs. The Shah of Persia is the happy-unhappy man.
The King and all the Princes went to the railway station to receive him.
The Queen and Princesses, our entourage behind us, a.s.sembled in the throne room to do honor to the "animal." To designate him otherwise would be callow flattery.
But his diamonds and rubies fairly dazzled us. Nothing like it in Europe, and our gala uniforms, compared with his, like stage tiaras to the Russian Crown jewels!
Though he had eyes for me only, I didn"t like him a bit. He is a little fellow, unsecure on his pins. And like the Balkan princeling I met in Vienna, looks as though there was a strain of Jewish blood in his veins.
Like a true Oriental potentate, he wasted not a minute"s time on the Queen and my sisters-in-law, but began making love to me as soon as he entered. The King had to take him by the arm to remind him that his first greetings were due to her Majesty. Poor Carola! Her face looked like parchment, much interlined, and the point of her nose was as conspicuous as usual.
There"s nothing elegant about this "King of kings," and his French, like his manners, is atrocious. He addressed a few set phrases to the Queen, then attacked me--"attacked" is the right word. If I hadn"t been on the defensive, I think he would have handled my charms as unceremoniously as Frederick Augustus when in his cups. As it was I escaped but by the length of an eye-lash.