GRAND MISTRESS TELLS HUSBAND I KEEP A DIARY
He wants to see it, but seems unsuspecting--Grand Mistress denies
that she meant mischief, but I upbraid her unmercifully--Threaten to
dismiss her like a thieving lackey.
LOSCHWITZ, _May 1, 1901_.
Frederick Augustus leaves tomorrow. Forever, I thought, when he put this
question to me:
"You are keeping a Diary, Louise?"
I was frightened dumb. I stared at him.
"What's the matter," he laughed. "I'm not going to eat you." He didn't
seem to be at all perturbed.
"How do you know I keep a Diary?" I stuttered.
Nonchalantly enough he made answer: "Your bag-of-bones Baroness told me.
Full of forbidden things, I suppose, since you regard it a state secret.
You often say that my education was sadly neglected. Maybe I can learn a
thing or two from your scribblings. Let's look 'm over."
By this time I had regained my composure. "Naturally," I said, "a Diary
records thoughts and things intended for the writer only, but if you
choose to be ungentlemanly enough to wish to peruse those pages more
sacred than private letters, I suppose I will have to submit."
Frederick Augustus changed the subject, but I felt instinctively that he
was disappointed. Someone had played on his curiosity, and to go
unsatisfied is not at all in this prince's line.
Of course, the someone was the Tisch, but how did she know? I will ask
her as soon as Frederick Augustus is gone.
* * * * *
LOSCHWITZ, _May 2, 1901_.
"Have you ever seen my Diary?" I asked the Tisch this morning.
"Never, Your Imperial Highness."
"Then how do you know I keep a Diary?"
"I surmised it because I saw Your Imperial Highness write repeatedly in
one and the same book." The hussy affected a humble tone, but the note
of triumph and hatred underlying the creature's meekness did not escape
me.
"And the mere surmise prompted you to blab to my husband, arouse his
suspicions?"
"For Heaven's sake," cried my Grand Mistress, "I had no idea that His
Royal Highness didn't know about the Diary. Secrets between the
Prince-Royal and Your Imperial Highness--how dare I pre-suppose such a
state of things? His Royal Highness casually asked how the Crown
Princess killed time in Loschwitz. I mentioned riding, driving,
bicycling, writing letters, writing in the Diary----"
My fingers itched to slap her lying face, Grand-Duchess of Tuscany
fashion, but I kept my temper.
"Listen to me," I said. "While you have secret instructions to play the
serpent in my household and to betray, for dirty money, your mistress of
the Blood Imperial, your duties as a spy are confined to my going and
coming, to my exterior conduct, to my visits outside the palace, to my
friendships, perhaps.
"They cannot possibly encompass my thoughts. And my Diary is the
repository of my thoughts--thoughts that must not be defiled by your
favor-seeking curiosity. Be warned. The next time you dare act the
burglar--I say _burglar_--I will kick you out of doors like a thieving
lackey."
She got as white as a sheet and hissed back: "Your Imperial Highness
can't dismiss me. Only His Majesty has power----"
I interrupted her with an imperious gesture.
"I said I will kick you out of doors like a thieving lackey," I
repeated, "and I will do so this moment if you say another word. Whether
or not His Majesty will punish me for the act, that's _my_ business. You
will be on the street and will stay on the street."
I pointed to the door: "I dismiss you now. You will keep to your room
for the rest of the day."
I saw the Tisch was near collapse.
"Your Imperial Highness deigns to insult a defenseless woman," she
breathed as she went out.
Defenseless! So is the viper that attacks one's heel! First these
"defenseless" creatures goad one to madness, then they appeal to our
_noblesse oblige_. The enmity between the Tisch and I is more intense
than ever.