George William was fervent in his protestations, prodigal in his promises of devotion, and what was more to the purpose, most liberal in his proposals as to settlements; but Eléonore held firm. Her birth was noble, though not royal, and, despite her poverty, she held that a French marquis of ancient descent was not so very inferior to a petty German prince. George William could not be expected to take this view, for, though indifferent to the trappings of rank, he, like all German princes, was inclined to over-estimate his own importance. But he could not give her up; he who had been accustomed to command in love was now its humblest supplicant; he who was indolent, easy-going in temperament, now developed an ardour and determination altogether foreign to him; he who was slow of speech now became more eloquent in the language of love. Eléonore had worked a transformation. So infatuated was he that he would willingly have married her then and there but for the document he had signed when the marriage was arranged between Ernest Augustus and Sophia. Eléonore knew nothing of this arrangement, but she positively refused to entertain any proposals short of marriage. ----- Footnote 8: There is a portrait of her, dressed in a blue robe, in the Guelph Gallery at Herrenhausen, as she was in middle life—a beautiful woman, with masses of dark brown hair and a superb figure. ----- [Illustration: ELÉONORE D’OLBREUSE, DUCHESS OF CELLE. _From a painting at Herrenhausen._ ] In this dilemma George William thought of a morganatic marriage,[9] and offered handsome settlements. The Princess de Tarente advised her friend to yield. The Marquis d’Olbreuse put no pressure on his daughter; but she was well aware of the straits to which poverty had reduced him, and could see that in his heart he favoured the Duke’s suit. If she consented she would secure for her father a comfortable provision for his declining years. Eléonore, too, was really in love with George William; but still she held back. ----- Footnote 9: A marriage _ad morganaticum_, sanctioned by the Church, but so far disallowed by law that the children of such wedlock were _infantes nullius_, and could succeed to no inheritance. -----