"Yes, dear Mrs. Paaschen, but you must not forget--the Prince. After all, you know, he is a district councillor, and perhaps he wants to rise still higher." "Certainly he wants to, and he will, too. It's in him. Paaschen always says so and he knows." This walk over to the office had consumed perhaps a quarter of an hour, and when Johanna returned, Effi was already sitting before the pier-glass, waiting. "You were gone a long time, Johanna." "Yes, your Ladyship--I beg your Ladyship's pardon--I met Mrs. Paaschen over there and was delayed a bit. It is so quiet here. One is always glad to meet a person with whom one can speak a word. Christel is a very good person, but she doesn't talk, and Frederick is such a sleepy-head. Besides, he is so cautious and never comes right out with what he has to say. True, one must be able to hold one's tongue when necessary, and Mrs. Paaschen, who is so inquisitive, is really not at all according to my taste. Yet one likes to see and hear something once in a while." Effi sighed. "Yes, Johanna, it is better so." "Your Ladyship has such beautiful hair, so long, and soft as silk." "Yes, it is very soft. But that is not a good thing, Johanna. As the hair is, so is the character." "Certainly, your Ladyship. And a soft character is better than a hard one. I have soft hair, too." "Yes, Johanna. And you have blonde hair, too. That the men like best." "Oh, there is a great difference, your Ladyship. There are many who prefer black." "To be sure," laughed Effi, "that has been my experience, too. But it must be because of something else entirely. Now, those who are blonde always have a white complexion. You have, too, Johanna, and I would wager my last pfennig that you have a good deal of attention paid to you. I am still very young, but I know that much. Besides, I have a girl friend, who was also so blonde, a regular flaxen blonde, even blonder than you, and she was a preacher's daughter." "Oh, yes." "I beg you, Johanna, what do you mean by 'oh yes?' It sounds very sarcastic and strange, and you have nothing against preachers' daughters, have you?--She was a very pretty girl, as even our officers thought, without exception, for we had officers, red hussars, too. At the same time she knew very well how to dress herself. A black velvet bodice and a flower, a rose or sometimes heliotrope, and if she had not had such large protruding eyes--Oh you ought to have seen them, Johanna, at least this large--" Effi laughingly pulled down her right eye-lid--"she would have been simply a beauty. Her name was Hulda, Hulda Niemeyer, and we were not even so very intimate. But if I had her here now, and she were sitting there, yonder in the corner of the little sofa, I would chat with her till midnight, or even longer. I am so homesick"--in saying this she drew Johanna's head close to her breast--"I am so much afraid." "Oh, that will soon be overcome, your Ladyship, we were all that way."