's overwhelming tact; she was so anxious that I should not
exaggerate the meaning or importance of the suggestion which had been
made, that she succeeded in filling my mind with it, to the exclusion of
everything else. The Duke, having tried in vain to stop her, fell into
silence, cigarettes, and drolly resigned glances. But he caught me alone
for a few moments, and gave me his word of advice.

"Think no more about this nonsense for six years," said he. "The women
will match-make, you know."

I promised, with a laugh, not to anticipate troubles. He smiled at my
phrase, but did not dispute its justice. I think he shared the sort of
regret which I felt, that such things should be so much as talked about
in connection with Elsa. A man keeps that feeling about his daughter
long after her mother has marked a husband and chosen a priest.

My visit to my cousins was the last stage of my journey. From their
house Vohrenlorf and I travelled through to Forstadt. I was received at
the railway station by a large and distinguished company. My mother was
at Artenberg, where I was to join her that evening, but Hammerfeldt
awaited me, and some of the gentlemen attached to the Court. I was too
much given to introspection and self-appraisement not to be aware that
my experiences had given me a lift toward manhood; my shyness was
smothered, though not killed, by a kind of mechanical ease born of
practice. After greeting Hammerfeldt I received the welcome of the
company with a composed courtesy of which the Prince's approval was very
manifest. Ceremonial occasions such as these are worthy of record and
meditation only when they surround, and, as it were, frame some incident
really material. Such an incident occurred now. My inner mind was still
full of my sojourn with the Bartensteins, of the pathetic, whimsical,
hypothetical connection between little Elsa and myself, and of the
chains that seemed to bind my life in bonds not of my making. These
reflections went on in an undercurrent while I was bowing, saluting,
grasping hands, listening and responding to appropriate observations.
Suddenly I found the Count von Sempach before me. His name brought back
my mind in an instant from its wanderings. The Countess was recalled
very vividly to my recollection; I asked after her; Sempach, much
gratified, pointed to a row of ladies who (the occasion being official)
stood somewhat in the background. There she was, now in the maturity of
her remarka