hen I had the honor of meeting her lover. A genuine,
unsophisticated country squire, with a very energetic mother, who
evidently has both him and her future daughter-in-law well under her
control. Oh, we had a highly intellectual conversation, which ended in
their asking my advice about the culture of turnips--I'm so well up in
turnips, you know. Just then, happily, the head forester and his
brother-in-law, Baron Wallmoden, returned."

Rojanow still held the field glass to his eyes, and was seemingly
indifferent to his friend's gossip. Now he said in a questioning tone,
"Wallmoden?"

"The new Prussian ambassador to our court. A genuine diplomatist, too,
if I may judge from appearances; aristocratic, cold, dignified and
reserved to the last degree, but good form, very good form. His wife,
the baroness, was not visible, but I bore her absence with resignation,
for he's a white-haired elderly man, and I doubt not his wife's of the
same stripe."

Hartmut's lip curled as he took the glass down from his eyes. He had not
mentioned his meeting with Frau von Wallmoden. Why not forget the very
name as soon as possible?

"Our romantic loneliness will soon end, Herr von Schoenau tells me,"
continued Egon. "The whole court is coming to Fuerstenstein for the
hunting season, and I can count on a visit from the duke. He'll come
over to Rodeck as soon as he arrives. I'm not overjoyed, I can tell you,
for my respected uncle will preach at me about my morals in a way poor
Stadinger never thought of doing, and I'll have to stand it, too. At any
rate Hartmut, I can take this opportunity to present you."

"If you think it necessary, and the etiquette of the court permits."

"Bah! The etiquette won't be so strictly observed here, and besides the
Rojanows belong to one of the Bojarin families of your country."

"Certainly."

"Well then, there's nothing to prevent your being presented. I am very
anxious to have the duke meet you, then I'll tell him about your
'Arivana,' and as soon as he hears your play, he'll have it put on the
court stage. I've no question of it."

The words conveyed the deep, almost passionate admiration which the
prince had for his friend. The latter only shrugged his shoulders as he
replied carelessly:

"That is possible, if you intercede for me, but I do not want to owe my
success to any man's efforts in my behalf. I am no poet of repute; I
scarcely know whether I am a poet at all or not, and if my work cannot