estry."

"Baron," said Marie, commandingly, "have the kindness to dismiss the
steward. I wish to speak with you and Frau von Werrig."

The steward slipped out without waiting to be sent, and Trude stood
near the door, turning to the young baroness, as if to ask if she might
remain.

"Did you not hear, Trude?" cried the mother, impatiently. "Tell her to
go!"

"Remain, Trude," said Marie, quietly. "You are familiar with the past. I
have nothing to deny to you; shut the door and stay here.--And now,"
she continued, as her voice lost its gentleness, when she addressed
her mother, "if it is agreeable to you, I should like to have an
understanding with you!"

"But, my child," sighed the mother, "how strangely altered you are! You
address me, your mother, as Frau von Werrig, and you speak to Ebenstreit
in a very formal manner, who has been your dear, faithful husband for
three years. Oh, my darling son, what does this ceremonious manner
mean?"

"The very first hour, after our marriage, that we were alone my dear
Marie severely reproved me for having addressed her in an intimate,
affectionate manner, like the common class, as she called it, and I have
never done so since."

"You must be convinced that I am right," said Marie, calmly, "and that
it does not become two beings, who neither love nor esteem each other,
and who live in the most ceremonious manner, to address one another with
endearing epithets. At any rate we are not accountable to any one, and
Frau von Leuthen must know the relations we bear to each other in the
so-called marriage, as it is her arrangement for the most part."

"And I pride myself upon it," she cried, with animation. "I have brought
about this marriage, which is good fortune to us, and I hope my daughter
will prove her gratitude, and my son will show me the affection he has
so often sworn to me."

"I do not know what my husband may have sworn to you, but permit me to
say, I do not understand whom you, Frau von Werrig, address as daughter
here; if you accidentally refer to me, you are in error; I have never
possessed a mother to love me, although formerly, during long years I
endeavored with tender assiduity to win a parent's heart. That is
long past, however. The very day that I married Herr von Ebenstreit I
renounced all family ties, and resolved to be self-reliant. My husband
will witness that he has never known me to yield, and that I have always
been firm and resolute in my decision."