by the attentions I bestow upon her charming cousin,
Bertha von Lichtenstein, which she thinks belong to her alone."

This confidential communication of the secretary to a perfect stranger,
was not a little surprising to Albert, who very soon discovered that a
certain portion of vanity was one of his weak points, though in other
respects there was much to like in him.

This avowal, however, on the part of his new acquaintance, did not
sound agreeable to Albert's ear, which caused him to press his lips
together, whilst his cheeks assumed a deeper colour.

"Laugh as you will," proceeded the scribe, whose head began to feel the
effects of the wine, to which he was unaccustomed; "if you only knew
how they pull caps about me! My Lichtenstein cousin has, however, a
disagreeable, odd way of showing her friendship; she is so ladylike and
reserved, that one is afraid to joke in her presence, much less to be
as familiar with her as with Marie; but it is just that which renders
her so attractive in my eyes, for if she sends me away ten times, I am
sure to return to her the eleventh:--the reason is," he murmured to
himself, "that her old strict father is present, of whom she is rather
shy; let him but once cross the boundary of Ulm, and I'll soon tame
her."

Finding his new acquaintance so very communicative, Albert resolved to
question him respecting the knight of Lichtenstein's view of the coming
struggle, because that was an essential point, upon which his dearest
hopes turned, and one upon which he had his doubts; but just as he was
about to begin, he was interrupted by the sound of peculiar strange
voices near him. He thought he had heard them before amidst the noise
and clatter of the ghosts, as they recited in a drawling uniform tone a
couple of short sentences, the purport of which he could not well
understand. But now that he heard them repeated close to him, he soon
learnt the subject of their monotonous import. It was the fashion in
those good old times, particularly in the imperial towns, for the
father of the family and his wife, when they entertained company, to
rise about the middle of the repast, go round to each individual guest,
and in a short sentence of customary usage press him to eat and drink.

This fashion was one of such old standing in Ulm, that the grand
council would on no account dispense with it on the present occasion,
and, therefore, appointed the father of a family and his wife, in the
persons