Louis paused a moment, looking at the closed door through which she had passed; and then returned to the _boudoir_, with his senses all in a maze. His heart, which had never beat before at the sight of womankind, throbbed in his breast almost audibly. Such an eye, as its soft lustre fell upon him, he had never met before; he felt its rays in his heart. And then, so finely composed a figure! Such matchless grace in her shape and snowy arms, as she led the young princess along. And the golden tresses which mingled with the white veil upon her neck, made him think of the peerless Helen, whose divine beauties compelled the admiration of the very empire she destroyed. Full of these imaginations, the more he thought, the farther did his mind wander from the business which brought him there:--and, when the Empress did make her appearance, it was with difficulty that he recalled his senses to the subject of the interview. In one of her pauses, she noticed his abstraction. She remarked it to him. A bright crimson flashed over his face. She repeated her enquiries. Louis was astonished at his own emotion; but without seeking other excuse, though with deepening colour, he said, he feared he had behaved rudely to a lady who had just left that apartment: but he was surprised, at meeting any but Her Majesty; and he had not yet recovered from his confusion. Elizabeth bade him describe the lady. To do that, he felt was impossible; though, on the demand, his ready heart repeated its pulsations; and looking down, he merely answered, "she was with the Arch-duchess." The Empress smiled. She now knew whom he had seen; and by his disorder, had no difficulty in guessing the cause of his abstraction. "The lady," returned she, "is the Countess Altheim; to whose care these apartments are consigned, as my first _lady of the key_. She is also the governess of my eldest daughter, whom you saw; and whom I wish her to model after her own graces!" Louis unconsciously sighed, as he bowed to this information; and Elizabeth, thinking she understood his meaning, with a smile still more gracious than the former, added--"she is a widow, though so young:--and has hitherto loved me too well, to be persuaded from my service by any one of the numerous solicitors for her hand." Louis felt another impertinent sigh rising to his lips, but he smothered it with a gentle effort; saying inwardly--"What is all this to me!" and made no answer to the Empress, but a second bow. She immediately passed to the subject of his audience. In returning to the College, he would not suffer himself to dwell a moment on the image of the beautiful Countess. But he was not permitted to keep his wise resolve of dismissing it altogether from his thoughts; for the bright original found occasions of repeating the impression day after day.