ch she had already written a word
of farewell.

"The note already written, too! _La letterina eccola qua!_" cried the
baron. "Child, your genius for command is so sublime that subordination
under your flag becomes a pleasure, and blind submission a matter of
honor. In five minutes I will be ready for the journey."

With comical gallantry he kissed the girl's hand, who had listened to
all his jests in a preoccupied and serious way, gave his friend a look
that seemed to say: "I yield to force!" and rushed out of the room.

Schnetz was left alone with the Fraeulein. A feeling that was almost
fatherly in its tenderness passed over him as he looked at the serious
young face.

"Perhaps," he thought, "it needs but a first word, a light touch, and
this young heart that is full to the brim will overflow and be
relieved."

But, before he could even open his lips, she said suddenly:

"I do hope Starnberg is not such a great resort for artists as the
other places in the Bavarian mountains, of which my cousins have told
me."

He looked at her in amazement.

"You hope so, Fraeulein? And what possible reason can you have for not
wishing it to be such a place? Artists are, as a rule, among the most
harmless of God's creatures, and can hardly be said to disfigure a fine
region with their umbrellas and camp-stools."

"And yet, last evening, I made the acquaintance of one of these artists
at the countess's below. The tone which he adopted--"

"Do you recollect his name?"

"No; but perhaps you know him--a young man in a violet velvet jacket."

Schnetz gave a loud laugh.

"Why do you laugh?"

"I beg a thousand pardons, Fraeulein--it really is not a matter to be
laughed at. This honest fellow--our secret poet--I know him down to the
very folds in his historical velvet jacket. What, in the name of
wonder, were the thorns that this Rosebud presented for you to scratch
your delicate skin upon?"

"I must submit to let you think me a prudish fool, who takes offense at
every light word, Herr von Schnetz," said she, with some asperity. "I
do not care to repeat the conversation of your friend. If he is one of
the most inoffensive of men, I would rather avoid a place where one is
forced to meet people of his stamp at every step."

She turned away and stepped to the window.

"My dearest Fraeulein," she now heard Schnetz's voice say behind her,
"you are ill, seriously ill; I don't know whether in body; but
certainly there is a wo