of blood might increase the mournful effect. The Empress sent out her highest courtier, and the Emperor his first chamberlain to represent them at the funeral. The courtier led the old Countess, and Maria Felicia, refusing an escort, walked by her mother’s side.
Both the ladies were covered from head to foot with veils so thick that it was impossible to see their faces. This, undoubtedly, was done to save the people the painful sight that their faces presented. For the same reason the men related to the deceased Count had their faces covered with black silk masks. Behind the Felsenburk family marched the whole nobility of Prague. The procession was ended by a knight in black armor, who scattered, from two leather bags fastened to the saddle, coins which had been struck for the occasion with the Count’s portrait.
Maria Felicia interested the Prague people almost more than the magnificence of the procession. Rumor of the disagreement between the father and the daughter, until then famed over the city for mutual love, had been
