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soon became unbearable to him, and he never forgot to reveal his feelings toward her with the same openness that she did to him. Between this couple, equally unyielding, equally overbearing, hating each other with equal intensity, there was naturally a continual strife. In vain the Empress talked, warned and reprimanded when she heard of the trouble between them; in vain she begged them to become reconciled; in vain she urged that people so distinguished should not disgrace themselves by a public separation—she accomplished nothing. Both alike remained obstinate. In two years the young Countess Felsenburk returned to her dear convent, for which she had not ceased to yearn; not, however, with all her wealth, only with a small portion. The greater part of her wealth she had to leave to her husband, who was made the guardian of their only child, Maria Felicia, to whom the Empress was a godmother. After his wife’s departure, the Count obtained for his daughter a son’s privilege—to hold after his death the right to all his estates, to