Daniel Nothafft, Sylvia
interrupted him, and asked a number of questions concerning Daniel. "Oh,
yes, he was our guest once; he is the Kapellmeister," she said. And then
she told him all about Daniel's visit at Erfft, and did it with a smile
in which there were both indulgence and re-awakened astonishment.

Her smile made the same appeal to Eberhard that Eleanore's had. And yet,
when he was in Sylvia's company, he seemed to recognise more distinctly
than ever what had drawn him with such irresistible power to Eleanore,
possibly because Sylvia was of a less ardent and forceful nature. He
could not exactly express it in words; he merely felt that it was the
unknown realm of tones, the unknown melting of melodies, the ringing
order of the music transformed into soul.

At the beginning of June, Sylvia went back to Nuremberg with Eberhard
and her parents. A few days later the betrothal took place in the
baronial residence.

VII

Herr Carovius had been paid. The consortium of silent backers had been
dissolved.

Never in the history of finance had there been a satisfied creditor
who was so unhappy as Herr Carovius. He was without a goal, and the
sign posts had been destroyed. He had received his money; so far so
good. His share of the profit was something over sixty thousand marks.
But what was this in comparison with the great noise? What comparison
was there between living in ease and the gorgeous sight of falling
stars? What attraction could the world offer him after this hopeful
affair, which had begun as a tragedy, and had increased in interest and
suspense until one was justified in believing that all the contradictory
forces in human nature were going to collide with one mighty bang, when,
in reality, the whole incident flattened out into an ordinary drama of
emotion, with the curtain going down on reconciliation all around?

But this was not the sole reason why Herr Carovius, up until this time a
most elastic figure, one of those imperturbable bachelors for whom no
hurdle was too high, suddenly felt that he was growing old. His soul was
filled with unrest; he was seeing bad omens; he feared there was going
to be a change in the weather.

He felt an inner hunger, and yet he somehow lacked appetite for his
kind of things. "Down and out, lost and no good," he sighed within. But
those who had got rich at his expense could not possibly succeed. This
much he knew.

He began to lo