now and then--at the still, pale face which rose above her
English-fashioned sealskin, and wondered how it was that some faces,
though never so young and beautiful, have written upon them in
unmistakable characters, "The End," as one saw upon her face. Still, we
talked about all kinds of matters--musical, private, and public. I asked
if she went out at all.

"Only to concerts with the von ----s, who have been friends of mine ever
since I went to ----," she replied; and then the train rolled into the
station of Lahnburg.

There was a group of faces I knew waiting to meet us.

"Ah! there is my sister Stella," said Adelaide, in a low voice. "How she
is altered! And that is May's husband, I suppose. I remember his face
now that I see it."

We had been caught sight of. Four people came crowding round us.
Eugen--my eyes fell upon him first--we grasped hands silently. His wife,
looking lovelier than ever in her winter furs and feathers. A tall boy
in a sealskin cap--my Sigmund--who had been hanging on his father's arm,
and whose eyes welcomed me more volubly than his tongue, which was never
given to excessive wagging.

May and Frau von Francius went home in a carriage which Sigmund, under
the direction of an awful-looking Kutscher, drove.

Stella, Eugen, and I walked to Rothenfels, and they quarreled, as they
always did, while I listened and gave an encouraging word to each in
turn. Stella Wedderburn was very beautiful; and after spending Christmas
at Rothenfels, she was going home to be married. Eugen, May, and Sigmund
were going too, for the first time since May's marriage.

Graf Bruno that year had temporarily abdicated his throne, and Eugen
had been constituted host for the season. The guests were his and his
wife's; the arrangements were his, and the entertainment fell to his
share.

Graefin Hildegarde looked a little amazed at such of her guests, for
instance, as Karl Linders. She had got over the first shock of seeing me
a regular visitor in the house, and was pleased to draw me aside on this
occasion, and inform me that really that young man, Herr Linders, was
presentable--quite presentable--and never forgot himself; he had handed
her into her carriage yesterday really quite creditably. No doubt it was
long friendship with Eugen which had given him that extra polish.

"Indeed, Frau Graefin, he was always like that. It is natural."

"He is very presentable, really--very. But as a friend of Eugen's," and
she