those addressed by him quickly blushed and wiped their foreheads with batiste handkerchiefs.
These interviews were indeed trying, for the guests found the noble introduced as Count Fridštejnský to be the eldest son of Maria Theresa, Joseph II., joint-ruler of Austria.
It was not the first time that Joseph II. had come to Prague unexpectedly and incognito, strictly forbidding any recognition of his rank and wishing to be treated as the one whom he assumed to be. On such visits, planning some important change in the empire, he first examined the state of affairs, discussed the question with those who understood it, listened to the various sides of public opinion, and then—did according to his own best judgment and his conscience, disregarding all objections, even those of his mother, the Empress of Austria. The most serious thing about it was that no one guessed his aims. He carefully concealed them that they might not be thwarted at their very inception by those
