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 coarseness! 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 banal compliments to the noble-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 passing 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.