ich he had put on his hot temples for a real golden
one. I hurried away to my uncle, who was waiting for me. "Well, cousin,
why have you been so long? Where have you been staying?" he cried as
soon as he saw me. "I have been having some words with the Baron!" I
quickly replied, carelessly and in a low voice, without being able to
look at the old gentleman. "God damn it all," said he, feigning
astonishment "Good gracious, boy! that's just what I thought. I suppose
the Baron has challenged you, cousin?" The ringing peal of laughter
which the old gentleman immediately afterwards broke out into taught me
that this time too, as always, he had seen me through and through. I
bit my lip, and durst not speak a word, for I knew very well that it
would only be the signal for the old gentleman to overwhelm me beneath
the torrent of teasing which was already hovering on the tip of his
tongue.

The Baroness appeared at the dinner-table in an elegant morning-robe,
the dazzling whiteness of which exceeded that of fresh-fallen snow. She
looked worn and low-spirited; but she began to speak in her soft and
melodious accents, and on raising her dark eyes there shone a sweet and
yearning look full of aspiration in their voluptuous glow, and a
fugitive blush flitted across her lily-white cheeks. She was more
beautiful than ever. But who can fathom the follies of a young man who
has got too hot blood in his head and heart? The bitter pique which the
Baron had stirred up within me I transferred to the Baroness. The
entire business seemed to me like a foul mystification; and I would now
show that I was possessed of alarmingly good common-sense and also of
extraordinary sagacity. Like a petulant child, I shunned the Baroness
and escaped Adelheid when she pursued me, and found a place where I
wished, right at the bottom end of the table between the two officers,
with whom I began to carouse right merrily. We kept our glasses going
gaily during dessert, and I was, as so frequently is the case in moods
like mine, extremely noisy and loud in my joviality. A servant brought
me a plate with some bonbons on it, with the words, "From Lady
Adelheid." I took them; and observed on one of them, scribbled in
pencil, "and Seraphina." My blood coursed tumultuously in my veins. I
sent a glance in Adelheid's direction, which she met with a most sly
and archly cunning look; and taking her glass in her hand, she gave me
a slight nod. Almost mechanically I murmured