Theodor Fontane's No Way Back

A little break from Fosse's dense woods. I'm escaping from the poetry of Norway to the poetry of the not too distant past (filtered through Fonty).

Excerpt:

The Baron bowed and seemed about to express not only approbation but a certain amused satisfaction with this state of affairs; the Princess however intervened and said: ‘But it was Ebba Brahe I wanted to talk about. Some names are blessed, and I have always been fortunate with the Ebbas of this world. As if it were yesterday, I can see before me the day when, from this very spot, I pointed across to Hveen and said to Ebba Brahe, “Now, Ebba, wouldn’t you like to make an exchange? Don’t you have a longing for your ancestors’ castle over there?” But she wouldn’t hear of an exchange, and I can still hear her enchanting voice as she said, “I prefer the view from the Hermitage to Hveen to the view from Hveen to the Hermitage”, and then she began to joke, to insist that she was completely earthly, far too much so to feel any enthusiasm for the Star Castle. Of all the planets, she was interested only in the earth, and the sole purpose of the others was its nocturnal illumination … Oh she was charming, beguiling, everybody’s darling – I’d almost be inclined to say more of an Ebba than a Brahe, while our new Ebba …’