All these arrangements had been made, as Desiree had prepared her
trousseau, with a zest and gaiety which all were invited to enjoy.
It is said that love is an egoist. Charles and Desiree had no
desire to keep their happiness to themselves, but wore it, as it
were, upon their sleeves.
The attitude of the Frauengasse towards Desiree's wedding was only
characteristic of the period. Every house in Dantzig looked askance
upon its neighbour at this time. Each roof covered a number of
contending interests.
Some were for the French, and some for the conqueror's unwilling
ally, William of Prussia. The names above the shops were German and
Polish. There are to-day Scotch names also, here as elsewhere on
the Baltic shores. When the serfs were liberated it was necessary
to find surnames for these free men--these Pauls-the-son-of-Paul;
and the nobles of Esthonia and Lithuania were reading Sir Walter
Scott at the time.
The burghers of Dantzig ("They must be made to pay, these rich
Dantzigers," wrote Napoleon to Rapp) trembled for their wealth, and
stood aghast by their empty counting-houses; for their gods had been
cast down; commerce was at a standstill. There were many,
therefore, who hated the French, and cherished a secret love of
those bluff British captains--so like themselves in build, and
thought, and slowness of speech--who would thrash their wooden brigs
through the shallow seas, despite decrees and threats and sloops-of-
war, so long as they could lay them alongside the granaries of the
Vistula.
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