She felt so angry at the moment that she would not have minded quarrelling even with Belita.
But nothing was further from Belita's mind than quarrelling. She left her chair, and going up to Gretchen, embraced her with effusion.
"Margherita mia! you have made me quite happy! An Elégante! Why, that is the height of my ambition; the very title which I am striving to live up to. I thank you immensely for that word."
"And this," thought Gretchen bitterly, – "this is the oracle to whom I have come for advice. This is the woman who has been my friend!"
Poor Gretchen! Her logic was at fault again; she had looked for a head and a heart where all was empty. Such people as this have not got heads, they have got coiffures; they have not got hearts, they have got ceintures or cuirasses, or whatever form of covering the fashion prescribes; they have not even got hands and feet, but only chaussure and gants de Suède, and they themselves consist much more of bodices than of bodies.
Gretchen rose from her chair to take leave.
"What! going already, Bambina? Are you sure you have no more questions to ask? Remember that I am always ready with my advice; always come to me when you are in doubt – promise!"
"Yes," said Gretchen, with an odd smile, "I promise. I shall always come to you when I am in doubt – about the draping of a tunic."
"Which next time will be the tunic of your wedding-dress, of course; eh, sícuro, child; don't shake your head! What a fright you gave me, to be sure, with your 'other sort of happiness'! Why, have you not proved to me a hundred times yourself (not that I wanted it proved) that fortune is the only sort of happiness worth having, because it can buy every other?"
"I have" – it echoed in Gretchen's heart.
"Did you not boast a hundred times that your experience was gathered for you beforehand?"
"I did – oh yes, I did," thought Gretchen.
"Oh, Margherita, that I should have to remind you of this!" – there was an hysterical quiver in Belita's voice, she had seized her friend's hand between her own – "that I should have to remind you that your fortune is still to be made!"
"My fortune, yes," said Gretchen, with a start. "I – I, of course, – I am going to make my fortune, but I told you that it shall be in my own way."
"And that way leads to Gaura Dracului, I suppose," sneered Belita. "Are you not yet cured of that pretty little fable about the brigands' treasure ? Why, oh most contradictious of all maidens, will you persist in hunting for your fortune among the hills, when by merely marrying Baron Tolnay your fortune is made, and how brilliantly?"
"But," said Gretchen, slowly, "if I find the brigands' treasure, then my fortune is made at any rate, and I can marry whom I like."
She had scarcely said it, when she took fright at herself. For the space of a few seconds she stood, staring back into Belita's horror-stricken eyes, then hastily lowered her long lashes and guiltily drooped her head. She took fright at the fright of her friend; for if there was so much horror
