An opportunity very soon offered.  One day the count received from the reverend Herr Mercatoris a gracefully worded appeal for charity.  The new owner of Fertoeszeg had interested herself in the fate of the destitute children whose fathers had gone to the war, and, in order to render their condition more comfortable, had undertaken to found a home for them.  She had already given the necessary buildings, and had furnished them.  She now applied to the sympathies of the well-to-do residents of the county for assistance to educate the children.  In addition to food and shelter, they required teachers.  Such sums as were necessary for this purpose must be raised by a general subscription from the charitably inclined.

The count promptly responded to this request.  He sent the pastor fifty louis d’or.  But in the letter which accompanied the gift he stipulated that the boy whose mother was in prison should not be removed from Frau Schmidt’s care to the children’s asylum.

It was quite in the order of things that the baroness should acknowledge the munificent gift by a letter of thanks.

This missive was beautifully written.  The orthography was singularly faultless.  The expressions were gracefully worded and artless; nothing of flattery or sentimentality—­merely courteous gratefulness.  The letter concluded thus: 

“You will pardon me, I trust, if I add that the stipulation which you append to your generous gift surprises me; for it means either that you disapprove the principle of my undertaking, or you do not wish to transfer to another the burden you have taken upon yourself.  If the latter be the reason, I am perfectly willing to agree to the stipulation; if it be the former, then I should like very much to hear your objection, in order that I may justify my action.”

This was a challenge that could not be ignored.  The count, of course, would have to convince his fair neighbor that he was in perfect sympathy with the principle of her philanthropic project, and he wrote accordingly; but he added that he disapproved the prison-like system of children’s asylums, the convict-like regulations of such institutions. He thought the little ones would be better cared for, and much happier, were they placed in private homes, to grow up as useful men and women amid scenes and in the sphere of life to which they belonged.

The count’s polemic reply was not without effect.  The baroness, who had her own views on the matter, was quite as ready to take the field, with as many theoretic and empiric data and recognized authorities as had been her opponent.  The count one day would despatch a letter to the manor, and Baroness Katharina would send her reply the next—­each determined not to remain the other’s debtor.  The count’s epistles were dictated to Marie; he added only the letter V to the signature.