This was looking ahead. Still, not very far ahead. The correspondent of a London paper in the Bavarian capital did not mince his words. "The indignation," he wrote, "against the King on account of his scandalous conduct, has been roused to the highest pitch.... King Ludwig, who possesses many good qualities, is, unfortunately, a very licentious old man.... Neither the tears of the Queen, nor the entreaties of his sons, nor the public's indignation, could influence the old monarch, who has become the slave of his silly passion and of the caprices of a Spanish dancer and Parisian lorette." Once more, Ludwig "dropped into verse," and relieved his feelings about his enemies. This time, however, the verse was blank: You have driven me from my Paradise, You have closed it for ever with iron grilles. You have turned my days into bitterness. You would even like to make me hate you Because I have loved too much to please your withered spirits. The perfume of my spring-time is dissipated, But my courage still remains. Youth, always bounding in my dreams, rests there, Embracing my heart with fresh force! You who would like to see me covered with shame, Tremble! You have committed sins against me and vomited injuries. Your wicked acts have judged you. There has never been anything to equal them! Already the clouds disappear; The storm passes; The sky lights up; I bless the dawn. Ungrateful worms, creep back to your darkness! There were repercussions across the Atlantic, where the role played by Lola Montez in Bavarian circles was arousing considerable interest. American women saw in it a message of encouragement for the aspirations they themselves were cherishing. "The moral indignation which her political opponents exhibited," said a leading jurist, "was unfortunately a mere sham. They had not only tolerated, but had actually patronised, a female who formerly held the equivocal position which the Countess of Landsfeld recently held, because the former made herself subservient to the then dominant party."