"Yes, yes," cried Count Schwarzenberg, with a short, peculiar laugh,
"right ill things look throughout this holy German empire; poverty, war,
and pestilence are the locusts of which you speak, and--But why do you
remind me of these unpleasant things? Let me enjoy one quarter of an
hour's refreshment and joy. Let me forget care for just a little while,
and feast my eyes upon the sight of this glorious woman!"

"It is a Venus," said Master Gabriel with diffidence, "the so-called Venus
with the Mirror. Master Titian has twice painted this design, only that in
one picture two Cupids appear, while the other shows only one Love."

"Very naturally," laughed the count. "When the great Titian painted the
first picture one Love only existed, while at the second representation a
second Love had arrived for the beautiful woman, to her own ineffable
delight and that of her beloved Master Titiano Vecellio."

"Pardon, your excellency," remarked Master Gabriel, "indeed the painting
represents a Venus."

"There you are now, poor child of man," cried Schwarzenberg, laughing
aloud, "so properly reserved and so affectedly modest! A mere woman in her
primitive beauty would wound your sense of propriety, and you would not
venture to look at her, but a goddess has permission to appear without
earthly clothing, and you dare, casting reserve aside, to lift your eyes
to her glorious form. And besides, in your humility and modesty, you think
that a woman of such godlike shape may not be found upon earth, therefore
you exalt her to the gods, and therefore you call her a Venus, who is only
the most voluptuous, beautiful, and charming of women."