The Lonely Way-Intermezzo-Countess Mizzie - BestLightNovel.com
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Oh, don't, if you please. There is no real pleasure in knowledge of that kind when you don't uncover it yourself.
[_A carriage is heard stopping in front of the house._
PRINCE
That's he. Do you want to disappear before he comes out here? I can detain him that long.
MIZZIE
Don't trouble yourself, please. I prefer to stay. But don't imagine that there is anything astir within me.... This is nothing but a young man coming to call on my father. There he is now.... As to blood being thicker than water--I think it's nothing but a fairy tale. I can't feel anything at all, my dear Prince.
PHILIP (_comes quickly through the main entrance; he is seventeen, slender, handsome, elegant, but not foppish; shows a charming, though somewhat boyish, forwardness, not quite free from embarra.s.sment_) Good morning. (_He bows to Mizzie_)
PRINCE
Good morning, Philip.--Countess, will you permit me to introduce my son? This is Countess Mizzie, daughter of the old friend of mine in whose house you are now.
PHILIP (_kisses the hand offered him by Mizzie; brief pause_)
MIZZIE
Won't you be seated, please?
PHILIP
Thank you. Countess. (_All remain standing_)
PRINCE
You came in the carriage? Might just as well send it back, as mine is here already.
PHILIP
Won't you come back with me instead, papa? You see, I think Wasner does a great deal better than your Franz with his team of ancients.
MIZZIE
So Wasner has been driving you?
PHILIP
Yes.
MIZZIE
The old man himself? Do you know that's a great honor? Wasner won't take the box for everybody. Up to about two years ago he used to drive my father.
PHILIP
Oh....
PRINCE
You're a little late, by the way, Philip.
PHILIP
Yes, I have to beg your pardon. Overslept, you know. (_To Mizzie_) I was out with some of my colleagues last night. You may have heard that I pa.s.sed my examinations a couple of weeks ago, Countess. That's why we rather made a night of it.[6]
[6] "... Ein bissel gedraht." The term is specifically Viennese and implies not only "making a night of it," but also making the contents of that night as varied as the resources of the locality will permit.
MIZZIE
You seem to have caught on to our Viennese ways pretty quickly, Mister....
PRINCE
Oh, dear Mizzie, call him Philip, please.
MIZZIE
But I think we must sit down first of all, Philip. (_With a glance at the Prince_) Papa should be here any moment now. (_She and the Prince sit down_)
PHILIP (_still standing_)
If you permit me to say so--I think the park is magnificent. It is much finer than ours.
MIZZIE
You are familiar with the Ravenstein park?
PHILIP
Certainly, Countess. I have been living at Ravenstein House three days already.
MIZZIE
Is that so?
PRINCE
Of course, gardens cannot do as well in the city as out here. Ours was probably a great deal more beautiful a hundred years ago. But then our place was still practically outside the city.
PHILIP
It's a pity that all sorts of people have been allowed to run up houses around our place like that.
MIZZIE
