He was as much in love with his wife as a man so
meagerly equipped in all but national conceit may be, for Mimi was a
handsome girl with a buxom but graceful figure, and a laughing face
whose golden brown eyes sparkled with the pure fun of living when they
were not somber with disgust and rebellion.
Gisela had always looked upon Heloise von Erkel as the most tragic
figure in Munich. In appearance she had distinction rather than beauty,
for although her features were delicate her complexion and hair were
faded and there were faint lines on her charming face. She was a blonde
of the French type, and her light figure, although indifferently carried
and a stranger to gowns, possessed an indefinable elegance.
Under heaven knew what impulse of romantic madness Frau von Erkel, then
Heloise d'Oremont, had married a young German officer, and although both
fancied themselves deeply in love the breach began shortly after they
had settled to the routine life of the frontier town where he was
stationed, and had widened rapidly in spite of the fact that she
produced six children as automatically as the most devoted (and
detested) hausfrau of her acquaintance. Shortly after the birth of
Marie, the breach became a chasm, for the chocolate firm, inherited
through her bourgeoise mother and the source of Frau von Erkel's wealth,
failed, and the haughty Bavarian aristocrat was forced to keep up his
position in the army and maintain his growing family on an income,
accruing from chocolate investments, that should have been reserved for
pleasure alone.
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