Part 2 (1/2)

”You may laugh,” continued Hoym, ”but the man who has not seen her, has not seen Venus, and I think even Venus herself would look rather like a country washerwoman, if placed beside her. Can I describe her? In her eyes alone there is so much power that no mortal could resist her.

Praxiteles could not have shaped a more perfect form. It is impossible to describe the charm of her smile, and yet the stern G.o.ddess does not smile every day.”

They nodded, but without believing what he said. Hoym would have stopped here, but the King said,--

”Describe her better, Hoym.”

”Who can describe perfection?” said Hoym, raising his eyes. ”She possesses every good quality, and has not one single drawback.”

”I am quite ready to believe that she is beautiful,” exclaimed Lagnasco, ”for fickle Hoym has been constant to her for three years.”

”He exaggerates! He is drunk!” interrupted Furstenberg. ”Would you dare to say that she is more beautiful than the Princess Teschen?”

Hoym shrugged his shoulders, and glanced timidly at the King, who said quietly,--

”There must be no consideration, except for the truth. Is she more beautiful than Lubomirska?”

”Your Majesty,” exclaimed Hoym enthusiastically, ”the Princess is a beautiful woman, but my wife is a G.o.ddess. There is not another woman anywhere, at the court, in the city, in the whole of Saxony, or indeed in the whole of Europe, who is as beautiful as my wife!”

The hall re-echoed with a gigantic peal of wild laughter.

”Hoym is very amusing when he is drunk!”

”How funny the Secretary to the Treasury is!”

”What a very droll man!”

The King did not laugh. Hoym, under the influence of the Ambrosia, had evidently forgotten where he was, and to whom he was talking.

”Yes, laugh!” he exclaimed. ”You all know me! You call me Don Juan; you acknowledge that I am a judge of female beauty. Why should I lie?”

Here he looked at the King and was terrified at the expression of his features. So terrified was he that he almost became sober. He would have liked to withdraw, but, being unable, he stood there pale and trembling.

In vain the others tried to make him talk further; Hoym only looked down at the floor and became thoughtful.

The King nodded to Kyan, who filled Hoym's gla.s.s with Ambrosia.

”We have drunk the health of our divine Hercules,” cried Furstenberg, ”now let us drink to the health of our G.o.dly Apollo!”

Some drank kneeling, others standing; Hoym, who had risen tottering, was obliged to lean on the table. The effects of the wine, that fear had checked for a time, returned. His head swam--he emptied his gla.s.s at one draught.

Behind the King's chair stood Furstenberg, whom that monarch caressingly called Furstchen. To him Apollo now turned,--

”Furstchen,” said he quietly, ”Hoym has not lied; he has been hiding his treasure from us for several years, we must force him to show it to us. Do what you please, no matter what the cost, but we must see her.”

Furstenberg smiled; he and the others were much pleased at this. The King's present mistress, Princess Teschen, had against her all the friends of Chancellor Beichlingen, whom she had succeeded in overthrowing, and after whose downfall she had inherited the palace situated in Pirna Street, and although Furstenberg had served her against the other ladies who had laid siege to the King's heart, yet he was ready to serve Augustus against the whole world. Lubomirska's beauty was not very great; to tell the truth, she was somewhat _pa.s.see_, and her manners of a fine lady had begun to weary the King, who liked his mistresses to be of a more daring and more lively temperament. Furstenberg had guessed all this from the King's conversation. Rus.h.i.+ng across to Hoym, he leant over his chair, and said aloud,--

”My dear Count, I am ashamed of you! You have lied most impudently, and in the presence of the King too. You have been practising a joke on him and on us. I admit that the wife of such a connoisseur as you are may, perhaps, not be a scarecrow, but to compare her to Venus, or even to the Princess Teschen, that is a wretched joke.”

Again the wine began to act on Hoym's head.