ests, entertainment followed entertainment, each
conducted on the most lavish scale, until the country, which at first
had inclined towards applause, began to show unmistakable signs of
disapproval. Things were said in the Reichsrath that should have enabled
any one less absorbed in his own private affairs than my father, and
less wilful than my mother, to have seen how foolish was the course each
was pursuing. When, eventually, the Prime Minister of the day, the Count
von Marquart, ventured upon a remonstrance, my mother cut him short with
a hasty speech that was destined to rankle in his heart and to lay the
foundation-stone of the misunderstanding that, for the rest of their
lives, existed between them. Fortunately, however, for the affairs of
men, Time is able to accomplish what argument and diplomacy cannot hope
to achieve. The duties of motherhood, and a long and serious illness,
which followed my advent into the world, put it out of her power to
adhere to the dangerous course she had hitherto been running. Much to
everyone's surprise, when she was fully recovered, it was found that the
craving for excitement, which she had formerly possessed, had completely
left her. The change, however, as is so often the case, came too late;
the mischief was already done. The Pannonians as a race are, so it has
been said, amongst the most undemonstrative of the inhabitants of
Europe. It is possible that this may be so. I am not going to admit or
to combat the accusation. This much, however, is quite certain: if they
are phlegmatic, they are also retentive; and, having once derived an
impression, or allowed themselves to become prejudiced in any given
direction, they seldom, if ever, return to their original condition. For
this reason, while the change in my mother was apparent to all who were
brought into immediate contact with her, and by hearsay to many who were
not, the greater proportion of the populace were of the opinion that
every calamity that befell the nation for years to come was
attributable, either directly or by inference, to her recklessness and
her extravagance in the past. That the great ceremonials and
festivities, balls, concerts, and hunting parties, were no longer to be
witnessed by the public eye, was, in their minds, no sort of proof that
they did not exist. With the strange perversity that so often
characterises the actions of a nation, those who had been most dazzled
and delighted when she had lifted the