He saw that she was vexed and disturbed, but he thought best to take no notice of it.  He knew well what was expected from them both in their little world, and felt for both their sakes it was better to educate his wife from the start in those matters which she did not seem to grasp fully.

He left her now, and Adelheid leaned back in her chair and gazed fixedly at the flowering plants which were grouped by her side, but under her breath she whispered with a gasp: 

“My own free will.  O my God!”

Prince Adelsberg and his friend had, in the meantime, been dismissed, and had made profound bows before the princess as she rose to leave the room.  The sharp features of her highness wore an unusually mild expression, and Rojanow was favored with a very gracious smile as she departed.

“Hartmut, I believe you are a witch,” said Egon, half aloud.  “I have had proof many times that you are irresistible, but this last effort of yours throws all others in shadow.  For my gracious aunt to have so prolonged an attack of amiability is unknown in the annals of the family.”

“Well, my reception was ungracious enough.  Your aunt seemed to think at first that I was a full-fledged brigand.”

“But it only took ten minutes to win her smiles and make you a declared favorite.  What is it you have about you, old fellow, which wins on every one?  It makes one believe in the old fable of the rat-catcher.”

The old scornful expression, which effaced all his beauty, swept across Hartmut’s face now, as he said contemptuously: 

“I understand how to sing to tickle the ears of my hearers.  You have to strike the chords according to the taste of your listener, but after you have learned that secret no one can withstand you.”

“No one?” repeated Egon, as his eye glanced over the room.

“No, not a single soul, I assure you.”

“Oh, you’re a pessimist with all your inferences.  I only wish I knew where Frau von Wallmoden was, but I don’t see her in any place.”

“His excellency was reading her a little sermon on her undiplomatic utterances in the other room a short time ago.”

“Why, did you hear what she said?” asked Egon, surprised.

“Certainly, I was standing by the door.”

“Well, I’m glad enough my worshipful aunt was given a snub, and wasn’t she furious over it, though; but do you believe that the ambassador would take his wife to task for—­hush, here he is himself.”

Yes, there was Baron von Wallmoden himself, true enough, and just in front of them as they came from an adjoining room.

It was impossible to avoid a meeting now, and the young prince, who had no premonition that any secret relations existed between the two, hastened to present them.

“Permit me, your excellency, to atone for the neglect of which I was guilty on the mountain the other day, but my friend had disappeared for the moment when we came down from the Tower.  Herr Hartmut Rojanow—­Baron von Wallmoden.”