"Yes--that is, no--I've been." "Ah, you have been to Kunitz to Dr. Kraus?" "Y--es. I've been there." "What does he say?" "That I must always wear a veil." "Because it looks so bad?" "I suppose so." There was a silence. Priscilla lay back in her corner exhausted, and shut her eyes. The mother stared fixedly at her, one hand mechanically stroking Hans-Joachim, the other holding him down. "When I was a girl," said the mother, so suddenly that Priscilla started, "I had a good deal of trouble with my skin. Therefore my experience on the subject is great. Show me your face, Fräulein--I might be able to tell you what to do to cure it." "Oh, on no account--on no account whatever," cried Priscilla, sitting up very straight and speaking with extraordinary emphasis. "I couldn't think of it--I really positively couldn't." "But my dear Fräulein, why mind a woman seeing it?" "But what do you want to see it for?" "I wish to help you." "I don't want to be helped. I'll show it to nobody--to nobody at all. It's much too--too dreadful." "Well, well, do not be agitated. Girls, I know, are vain. If any one can help you it will be Dr. Kraus. He is an excellent physician, is he not?" "Yes," said Priscilla, dropping back into her corner. "The Grand Duke is a great admirer of his. He is going to ennoble him." "Really?" "They say--no doubt it is gossip, but still, you know, he is a very handsome man--that the Countess von Disthal will marry him." "Gracious!" cried Priscilla, startled, "what, whether he wants to or not?" "No doubt he will want to. It would be a brilliant match for him." "But she's at least a hundred. Why, she looks like his mother. And he is a person of no birth at all." "Birth? He is of course not noble yet, but his family is excellent. And since it is not possible to have as many ailments as she has and still be alive, some at least must be feigned. Why, then, should she feign if it is not in order to see the doctor? They were saying in Kunitz that she sent for him this very day." "Yes, she did. But she's really ill this time. I'm afraid the poor thing caught cold watching--dear me, only see how sweetly your little boy sleeps. You should make Levallier paint him in that position." "Ah, he looks truly lovely, does he not. Exactly thus does his dear father look when asleep. Sometimes I cannot sleep myself for joy over the splendid picture. What is the matter with the Countess Disthal? Did Dr. Kraus tell you?" "No, no. I--I heard something--a rumour."