And why not? It was all just a
theatrical performance, and prettier and more poetical than
_Cinderella_, which she had seen on the last evening in Berlin--no, on
second thought, it couldn't be prettier and more poetical. In this
play she herself would have been glad to take a part, even if only for
the purpose of making a chalk mark on the back of the ridiculous
boarding-school teacher. "And how charming in the last act is
'Cinderella's awakening as a princess,' or at least as a countess!
Really, it was just like a fairy tale." She often spoke in this way,
was for the most part more exuberant than before, and was vexed only
at the constant whisperings and mysterious conduct of her girl
friends. "I wish they felt less important and paid more attention to
me. When the time comes they will only forget their lines and I shall
have to be in suspense on their account and be ashamed that they are
my friends."
Thus ran Effi's scoffing remarks and there was no mistaking the fact
that she was not troubling herself any too much about the pre-nuptial
exercises and the wedding day. Mrs. von Briest had her own ideas on
the subject, but did not permit herself to worry about it, as Effi's
mind was, to a considerable extent, occupied with the future, which
after all was a good sign. Furthermore Effi, by virtue of her wealth
of imagination, often launched out into descriptions of her future
life in Kessin for a quarter of an hour at a time,--descriptions
which, incidentally, and much to the amusement of her mother, revealed
a remarkable conception of Further Pomerania, or, perhaps it would be
more correct to say, they embodied this conception, with clever
calculation and definite purpose.
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