We thought long and deep whether it wouldn't be possible to improve our position and we decided on this: We will keep up each other's spirits by clandestine correspondence, carried on with the aid of a mutual friend. At the same time we will, apparently, fall in with the ideas of "our masters" and endure a few pin-pricks rather than waste our strength in useless opposition. Let no one chide us for hypocrites, because our gentleness will be a mask, our submission a snare, our obedience a lie. It's all on the outside. Inwardly Leopold and Louise will remain true to themselves. 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 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!