“Has Toni come back yet?  I heard from Adelheid that she had been visiting in the city, but was expected any day.”

Herr von Schoenau, who in the meantime had ensconced himself in a comfortable chair, answered: 

“Yes, she came home yesterday—­and with an escort, too.  She brought a young man with her who was to be her future husband, she declared, and as he declared so too, with great positiveness, there was nothing left me but to say, yes and Amen.”

“What’s that?  Toni engaged again?” exclaimed Frau Regine in surprise.

“Yes, this time she did it all herself.  I knew nothing of it.  But you see, she took it into her head that she must be loved to distraction; nothing less romantic would do for her.  Well, Herr von Walldorf seems to answer all her requirements.  He related to me with the greatest satisfaction how he fell on his knees and assured her he could not live without her, and how she gave him a similar touching assurance, with more to the same effect.  Yes, Regine, the day has gone by when we can keep the children in leading strings.  When they get ready, they want to choose their own partners for life and I must say they’re not far wrong.”

The last sentence was uttered with seeming carelessness, but Regine understand it fully.  Thoughtfully she repeated: 

“Walldorf?  The name is strange to me.  When did Toni meet him?”

“He is a friend of my son and came home with him on his last visit.  As a result of that visit, I met the mother, and she invited Toni to spend a few weeks with her, and that’s where all the courting was done.  But I have no reason to feel dissatisfied.  Walldorf’s a handsome fellow, and lively, and head over heels in love; he seems a little light and frothy now, but that will disappear when he gets a sensible wife like Toni.  These model sons are not always to my taste; they get too skittish when they break loose.  We have an example of that in Will.  Walldorf will resign in the Autumn.  I won’t have my Toni marrying a lieutenant; I will buy them an estate and they will be married at Christmas.”

“I am greatly rejoiced on Toni’s account,” said Frau von Eschenhagen, heartily.  “You take a great load from my heart by this news.”

“And now,” said the head forester, nodding to her, “you should follow my example and take a load from the heart of another betrothed couple.  Be reasonable, Regine, and give in.  Little Marietta is a dear, good girl, if she has sung in a theatre.  Every one speaks highly of her.  You need never be ashamed of your daughter-in-law.”

Regine rose suddenly and pushed her chair back with a violent movement.

“I beg you, Moritz, once for all, to spare me such requests.  I will stand by my word.  Willibald knows the conditions under which I shall return to Burgsdorf.  If he does not fulfill them, we are better apart.”

“It will be a long time before he will do that,” said her brother-in-law, dryly.  “When a man is asked to abandon the woman he loves for a mother’s whim, he’s not apt to do it if he’s made of the right stuff.”