As far as I am concerned,
anyhow, it is. I shall never forsake them, never, _never_. So please
don't try to tell me things about them--it doesn't change my feelings
towards them, and only makes me angry with you. Which is a pity. I want
to live at peace with my neighbour."

"Well?" he said, as she paused. "That, I take it, is a prelude to
something else."

"Yes, it is. It's a prelude to Karlchen."

"To Karlchen?"

She looked at him, and laughed rather nervously. "I am afraid," she
said, "that Karlchen is coming to stay with me."

"And who, pray, is Karlchen?"

"The only son of his mother, and she is a widow."

He came to a standstill again. "What," he said, "Frau von Treumann has
asked you to invite her son to Kleinwalde?"

"She didn't actually ask, but she got a sad letter from him, and seemed
to feel the separation so much, and cried about it, and so--and so I
did."

Axel was silent.

"I don't yearn to see Karlchen," said Anna in rather a small voice. She
could not help feeling that the invitation had been wrung from her.

Axel bored a hole in the moss with his stick, and did not answer.

"But naturally his poor mother clings to him, and he to her."

Axel was intent on his hole and did not answer.

"They are all the world to each other."

Axel filled up his hole again, and pressed the moss carefully over it
with his foot. Then he said, "I never yet heard of two Treumanns being
all the world to each other."

"You appear to have a down on the Treumanns."

"Not in the least. I do not think they interest me enough. It is an East
Prussian Junker family that has spread beyond its natural limits, and
one meets them everywhere, and knows their characteristics. What is this
young man? I do not remember having heard of him."

"He is an officer at Rislar."

"At Rislar? Those are the red hussars. Do you wish me to make inquiries
about him?"

"Oh, no. It's no use. His mother can't be happy without him, so he must
come."

"Then may I ask why, if I am not to help you in the matter, we are
talking about him at all?"

"I wanted to ask you whether--whether you think he will come often."

"I should think," said Axel positively, "that he will come very often
indeed."

"Oh!" said Anna.

They walked on in silence.

"Have you considered," he said presently, "what you would do if your
other--sisters want their relations asked down to stay with them?
Christmas, for instance, is a time of general rejoicing,