The eyes of the two men met, the one with a sharp, contemptuous gaze, the other, equally sharp, but haughty and defiant.  The ambassador was too much of a diplomat, however, to be other than the courteous gentleman.

His greeting, though cold, was polite, but he turned at once to the prince to speak, and chatted to that gentleman alone for the minute or two that they stood together.

“His excellency is more of a ramrod than ever to-day,” said Egon to his friend as they went on.  “Whenever that cold, calculating countenance comes near me I feel frost-bitten and long to fly to the torrid zones.”

“I suppose that’s why you seek to bask in the rays of that glittering northern light, his wife,” said Hartmut with a sneer.  “Can you tell me for whom we are searching, in this weary pushing and crowding through these heated rooms?”

“I want to find the head forester,” said the prince, irritated at his friend.  “I want you to meet him, but you are in one of your bad humors to-day.  Perhaps I’ll find Schoenau in the arrow-room.  I’ll go and look at any rate.”

He left his friend abruptly, and did indeed set out for the arrow-saloon, where the duke and duchess were, and where he hoped to find Adelheid von Wallmoden.  Unhappily for him, just at the entrance of the room, he was once more entrapped by his aunt, who pointed imperiously to a chair by her side.  She wanted to hear all there was to be told about the handsome and interesting young Roumanian, who had quite won her heart, she said, and her uneasy nephew was obliged to possess his soul in patience as he answered her many questions.

The noise and the merriment were at their height, as Hartmut now threaded his way alone among the throng.  He also sought someone, but he was more fortunate than Prince Egon; casting a fleeting glance into the tower-room, the entrance to which was almost hidden by portieres and exotics, he saw the edge of a white satin train which swept the floor, and in the next second he stood upon the threshold.

Adelheid von Wallmoden still sat on the same spot where her husband had left her.  She turned her head slowly now as some one entered.

Suddenly she sat erect, and then returned the young man’s deep obeisance with her accustomed icy bow.

“Have I disturbed you, baroness?” he asked.  “I fear you sought this room for quiet, and my intrusion was unintentional, I assure you.”

“I only sought a cool place; the heat of the larger rooms seems almost suffocating.”

“I came for a like reason, but as I have not had an opportunity to greet you before to-day, my dear madame, permit me to do so now.”  The words sounded very formal.  Rojanow had come a step nearer as he spoke, but he still remained at a respectful distance.  No movement of hers since he entered had escaped him, and a singular smile lay in his eyes as he looked steadily at the young wife.

She had made a motion as if to rise and depart, but the thought that such a sudden course could only be constructed into flight, restrained her in time.  So she leaned back in her chair again and bent over a branch of great purple-red camelias.