"I was in Italy, Fräulein von Wallbach, and in Paris."
"Oh, that dear dear Paris! We have not been there for an eternity; the last time was the year before the war. They say it has not altered at all, but I cannot believe it. Then there was such a brilliant court--and now--c'est désolant! But sit down by us; there is room if we sit closer together." Carla drew aside her voluminous skirts.
"I am afraid of being in your way," said the Count, but sat down in the place so readily made for him, while Herr von Wallbach glanced despairingly at his varnished boots.
"We have been talking immensely about you this last few days," said Carla. "Dear Elsa! she is so enchanted with Golmberg, it must really be a perfect paradise. Is not Elsa enchanting? We all spoil her here, Ottomar says, and he spoils her more than any one."
"Who is Ottomar, if I may ask?"
"Herr von Werben!" said Wallbach, casting a glance of displeasure upon Carla, "the Lieutenant."
"Oh, his name is Ottomar!" said the Count.
"Our families are so very intimate," said Herr von Wallbach. "My poor brother, you know, fell at the siege of Paris by Von Werben's side."
"True! true! I remember," said the Count, who knew nothing about it.
"And naturally that increased our intimacy," said Carla. "Sorrow always brings people closer together," and she compressed still further the ample folds of her dress.
"True! true!" said the Count. "Sorrow--and happiness too."
"Ah, you are a philosopher! I love philosophy! Schopenhauer gave me the most intense pleasure. Are you not enchanted with Hartmann?"
"Who may that be?" thought the Count; and aloud he said, "Certainly--at least----"
"Then you do not know him, at least thoroughly; I know him by heart. There are only three men now to be studied, and studied again and again--Bismarck, Hartmann, and Wagner. The politics of the present, the music of the future, opened out to us by the philosophy of the unknown; in them you see the stamp of this century."
"I am quite anxious to make Herr von Werben's acquaintance," said the Count, by way of taking part in the conversation.
"Quand on parle du loup--mon Dieu! he really does look like a wolf," cried Carla, whose ever busy eye-glasses had perceived Ottomar the moment he appeared in the room, with the anger and displeasure at Ferdinanda's supposed flight still apparent in his troubled looks and gloomy eyes.
"He has been looking for you, Carla," said Frau von Wallbach, opening her lips for the first time.
"Pray do not call attention so openly to what is by no means settled yet," whispered Herr von Wallbach in her ear.
"What, not yet?" said Frau von Wallbach in an indifferent tone.
Herr von Wallbach shrugged his shoulders, then turned with a smile towards Ottomar, who was working his way in and out till he finally arrived at the party in the window.
"That is right, my dear Werben; we have been expecting you a long time."
"I must apologise," said Ottomar; "I have lost Elsa--been looking for her this half hour. Pray do not be angry with me, Frau von Wallbach, nor you, Fräulein Carla."
"Good-morning," said Carla, without moving her glasses from her eyes. "Who is that, Louise? Frau von Elmar? on her husband's arm? impossible!"
Ottomar had not written during the three days he had been away shooting--not a line--and he must be punished for it. Besides, since her approaching engagement with the smart Guardsman had become known, she had not found it so easy to fascinate other young men as before. The Count was fresh from the country, and could very easily play the part required of him for a day or two. "Count Golm!"
"Yes." The Count, whom Herr von Werben had just introduced to Ottomar, turned round.
"Look, Count Golm! That young lady in the lovely blue dress--that is Frau von Elmar, who had that affair with Count Wolkonski, the attaché at the Russian Embassy, two winters ago. Don't you know the story? You must hear it. Sit down again by me!"
"I thought we were just going!" said Herr von Wallbach.
"One moment," said Carla.
Herr von Wallbach shrugged his shoulders. He considered the game Carla was playing, and which he quite saw through, utterly misplaced. Ottomar's face was dark enough already, so dark indeed that he considered a word of excuse necessary. "She is still such a child," he whispered, with a side-glance at Carla. "You must not be angry with her."
"I am not angry with her."
"Then something else has vexed you," continued Wallbach, drawing Ottomar aside. "You really ought to leave Berlin for a time, this idle time of peace does not suit you. And I have already spoken to the Minister; he does not include you in his differences with your father. In fact he wishes that you should accept this post, only he also wishes for particular reasons not to have any more unmarried attachés there. You see, my dear Werben, I am open with you, and you will not mind that. Be so yourself, and show that you are in earnest! Believe me we shall all be better and happier--you and I and Carla. You cannot be surprised if at last we are getting a little impatient."
"No; I am impatient enough myself."
"Then we shall be quite d'accord, and if you agree--hush! Princess Heinrich August!"
The Princess had come into the room, and had got to the opposite corner without being observed by the group in the window, and now moved on, the crowd respectfully making way, rapidly examining the pictures and sometimes talking to Elsa over her shoulder. The group on the sofa got up hastily and bowed low.
"Now we are all together," said the great lady with kindly friendliness. "Here, you most unfaithful of brothers, is your sister! The company in which we find you must be your excuse. How are you, my dear Carla? You have not shown yourself out riding for three days. I always feel there is something wanting when you do not once canter past my carriage on your black horse. But he has been faithless to you too. Shooting--gentlemen are always shooting! I advise you to beware! You ought to ride too, my dear Wallbach! it would certainly do you good; my daughters begin next year. I should ride myself if--ah! Count Golm! What brings you from your lonely island to our dusty town? Certainly roses bloom here also. Fräulein von Werben has told me the adventure she had at Golmberg--quite romantic! I always say truth is stranger than fiction. Shall you stop here long, my dear Count? You must tell me the whole story. I take a great interest in your island, where I spent a delightful week last autumn. How is Prince Prora? Your little castle of Golmberg is said to stand in a still better position than his celebrated hunting-place. Perhaps you will all accompany me for a short time? Stay by me, dear Elsa! Then how long do you stay, my dear Count?"
The Princess moved away. The crowd which had formed a semicircle at a respectful distance, watching the great lady's interview with the group in the window, as hearing was not possible, opened out and then spread over the room in chattering groups.
"What a pretty woman!"
"Who were the people with whom she talked so long and so graciously?"
CHAPTER XIII.
After happily saving Fräulein von Werben from the danger of being caught by the Princess talking confidentially with a merchant-captain, Reinhold had returned through the gallery and second room to the clock-room, in the assured hope of finding his cousin still there. But in vain did he turn his sharp eyes in all directions, plunging boldly over the long trains of the ladies, if he saw a brown velvet dress in the far distance.
After all she could not be far off, and in fact it was more that she had left him in the lurch than that he had left her. But still his uneasiness did not decrease when he got to the skylight-room without finding her. He stood still, doubting