Then he turned
on me, but I called him a tyrant and gave him my opinion of his
nonsensical attitude generally. As I was not his daughter he gradually
calmed down and seemed rather to relish the tirade. Finally they all
came over to my hotel to tea.
"You see!" said one of the girls to me afterward. "I have not
exaggerated. Do you think I want another like that?" And, so far as I
know, they have never married.
I did not draw any of my characters on these four delightful girls, but
took the episode as a foundation for the incidents and characters that
grew under my hand after I got round to the story.
The episode of Georg Zottmyer was also told me by a German girl whom I
got to know very well in Munich, and who distantly suggested the
character of Gisela (that is to say in the very beginning. As Gisela
developed she became more like her own legendary Brunhilda).[1]
This young woman was as independent in her life and in her ideas as any
I ever met in England or the United States. But fortune had been kind to
her. Her father died just after her education was finished, and as he
left little money, she went to Brazil as governess in a wealthy family.
She remained in South America for several years, gaining, of course,
poise and experience. Then a relative died and left her a comfortable
fortune.
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