“Shall we ask Aunt Maxa’s advice?  Would this suit you, child?”

“Oh, yes indeed,” Leonore answered happily.

At the mention of Aunt Maxa she suddenly remembered that they had not told her where they were going.  As she was afraid that they had remained away too long already, Lenore urged Maezli to take her leave quickly, while she gave her hand to the steward.

“Will you deliver a message for me, Leonore?” he said; “will you tell your Aunt Maxa that the master of the castle, whom she knew long years ago, would love to visit her, but he is unable?  Ask her if he may hope that she will come up to him at the castle instead?”

Maezli gave her hand now to say good-bye, and when she noticed that the pillow had slipped down again, she said, “Apollonie would just love to set things in order for you, but Mr. Trius won’t let her in.  She would be willing to give a finger from her right hand if she were allowed to do everything Mr. Trius doesn’t do.”

“Come now, Maezli,” said Leonore, for she had the feeling that this peculiar revelation might be followed by others as unintelligible.  But the Castle-Steward smiled, as if he had comprehended Maezli’s words.

Mrs. Maxa was standing in front of her house, surrounded by her children, anxiously looking for the two missing ones.  Nobody could understand where Leonore and Maezli might have stayed so long.  Suddenly they caught a glimpse of two blue ribbons fluttering from Leonore’s hat.  Quickly the children rushed to meet them.

“Where do you come from?  Where did you stay so long?  Where have you been all this time,” sounded from all sides.

“In the castle,” was the answer.

The excitement only grew at this.

“How could you get there?  Who opened the door?  What did you do at the castle?” The questions were poured out at such a rate that no answer could possibly have been heard.

“I went to see the Castle-Steward before.  I have been to see him quite often,” said Maezli loudly, for she was desirous of being heard.

Leonore had gone ahead with the mother’s arm linked in hers, for she was very anxious to deliver her message.

Kurt was too much interested in Maezli’s expedition to the castle to be frightened off by the first unintelligible account.  He had to find out how it had come about and what had happened, but the two did not get very far in their dialogue.

As soon as Maezli began to talk first about Mr. Trius and then about the Steward, Kurt always said quickly, “But this is all one and the same person.  Don’t make two out of them, Maezli!  All the world knows that Mr. Trius is the Steward of Castle Wildenstein; he is one person and not two.”

Then Maezli answered, “Mr. Trius is one and the Castle-Steward is another.  They are two people and not one.”

After they had repeated this about three times Bruno said, “Oh, Kurt, leave her alone.  Maezli thinks that there are two, when she calls him first Mr. Trius and then Mr. Castle-Steward.”