aroness
von Wallmoden; he made a passing allusion to the meeting in the wood,
for the young wife was wrapped in her mantle of icy indifference. It was
scarcely necessary to-day, for Rojanow was as fully determined as she,
to consider their acquaintance as of the slightest.

Egon cast a reproving glance toward his friend, for he could not
comprehend how any one could keep silence about such a happy accident as
that of piloting so lovely a woman through the wood. He entered at once,
and with animation, into a conversation with the baroness. He spoke of
himself as a neighbor, and of his recent visit to Fuerstenstein, and his
regret, great regret, at not meeting her on that occasion. But with all
his chatter, the prince kept himself well within bounds, and was the
polite and agreeable courtier. He knew full well that the wife of the
Prussian ambassador, no matter how young and beautiful, was not to be
approached with vapid, idle compliments. Hartmut had made that error in
addressing the unknown girl in the wood, but Egon had the advantage of
knowing to whom he spoke, and succeeded at last in thawing the beautiful
baroness by his gracious, suave manner. Finally he showed her the
landscape, and pointed out and explained the especial objects of
interest.

Hartmut did not enter into the conversation at all, but after handing
the field glass to his friend, excused himself on the plea of searching
for a lost pocket-book. The watchman of the tower volunteered to go in
search of it for him, but Rojanow declared he would go and look for it
himself. He remembered the exact place, where, as he mounted the stairs,
he had heard something drop, but had paid no attention to it at the
time. He would go and find it, and then return to the platform. And
with a bow he left them.

Egon, under other circumstances, would have expressed his surprise that
Hartmut did not accept the old watchman's offer, instead of going
himself. But now he saw his friend depart without protest; he was not
unwilling to have the field to himself. The baroness had already raised
the glass to her eyes, and was following attentively his explanations
and comments on the surrounding country.

"And over yonder, behind that mountain of forest, lies Rodeck," he said
at last. "The little hunting lodge where we two misanthropes live like
hermits, cut off from all the world beside, save the apes and parrots
which we brought from the East, and they, by the way, are growing