Yet the thought entered her mind that it ill beseemed her to express so much pleasure in a worldly amusement.  Her glance fell in shame, and she gently continued in that tone of self-compassion which was by no means unfamiliar to the members of her family.  “True, though the Emperor is so noble, and both he and the Burgravine were so gracious to me, at first—­and not only for a brief quarter of an hour, but a very long time I could feel no real pleasure.  What am I saying?  Pleasure!  I was indescribably desolate and alone among all those vain, bedizened strangers.  I was like a shipwrecked sailor washed ashore by the waves and surrounded by people whose language is unfamiliar.”

“But half Nuremberg was at the ball,” her sister interrupted.  “Now you see the trouble, darling.  Whoever, like you, remains in seclusion and mounts a tall tree to be entirely alone, will be deserted; for who would be kind-hearted enough to learn to climb for your sake?  But it seems that afterwards one and another——­”

“Oh!” Eva interrupted, “if you think that any of your friends gave me more than a passing greeting, you are mistaken.  Not even Barbel, Ann, or Metz took any special notice of your sister.  They kept near Ursel Vorchtel, and she and her brother Ulrich, of course, behaved as if I wore a fern cap and had become invisible.  I cannot tell you how uncomfortable I felt, and then—­yes, Els, then I first realised distinctly what you are to me.  Obstinate as I often am, in spite of all your kindness and care, ungraciously as I often treat you, to-night I clearly perceived that we belong together, like a pair of eyes, and that without you I am only half myself—­or, at any rate—­not complete.  And—­as we are speaking in images—­I felt like a sapling whose prop has been removed; even your Wolff can never have longed for you more ardently.  My father found little time to give me.  As soon as he saw me take my place in the Polish dance he went with Uncle Pfinzing to the drinking room, and I did not see him again till he came to bring me home.  He had asked Fran Nutzel to look after me, but her Kathrin was taken ill, as I heard when we were leaving, and she disappeared with her during the first dance.  So I moved forlornly here and there until he—­Heinz Schorlin—­came and took charge of me.”

“He?  Sir Heinz Schorlin?” asked Els in surprise, a look of anxious suspense clouding her pretty, frank face.  “The reckless Swiss, whom Countess Cordula said yesterday was the pike in the dull carp pond of the court, and the only person for whom it was worth while to bear the penance imposed in the confessional?”

“Cordula von Montfort!” cried Eva scornfully.  “If she speaks to me I shall not answer her, I can tell you.  My cheeks crimson when I think of the liberty——­”

“Never mind her,” said her sister soothingly.  “She is a motherless child, and therefore unlike us.  As for Heinz Schorlin, he is certainly a gallant knight; but, my innocent lambkin, he is a wolf nevertheless.”