When the precise significance of
the fond leer of that painted harridan's repellent coquetry was
borne in upon him he felt the skin of his body creep and roughen
But he dissembled craftily. He was a venal scamp, after all, and
in the court of Hanover he saw opportunities to employ his gifts
and his knowledge of the great world in such a way as to win to
eminence. He saw that the Elector's favourite could be of use to
him; and it is not your adventurer's way to look too closely into
the nature of the ladder by which he has the chance to climb.
Skilfully, craftily, then, he played the enamoured countess so
long as her fondness for him might be useful, her hostility
detrimental. But once the Colonelcy of the Electoral Guards was
firmly in his grasp, and an intimate friendship had ripened
between himself and Prince Charles--the Elector's younger son--
sufficiently to ensure his future, he plucked off the mask and
allied himself with Sophia in her hostility towards Madame von
Platen. He did worse. Some little time thereafter, whilst on a
visit to the court of Poland, he made one night in his cups a
droll story of the amorous persecution which he had suffered at
Madame von Platen's hands.
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