Here the two friends embraced each other tearfully, till Meta, in her wisdom, sobbed out: “I am sure I do not know why you are crying, and you do not know either, you see; and if you get so excited and spoil the thread of my story I cannot tell it properly, you see! So now, were you ever in a studio? Of course not. Imagine to yourself a room, like our church at Strummin—you do not know it, by the way; imagine, then, a room as wide and high as you please, and the whole high wide room full—no, it is indescribable, particularly for a young girl. I assure you I did not know sometimes where to turn my eyes; but he—no, you really must be a little sensible now—he helped me safely over everything, and only took me about wherever it was quite, or at least very nearly proper; and then we had—oh, dear! I had arranged everything so nicely while we were at tea, and now I have forgotten it all. I only know that when we came in, quite unexpectedly, you know, he jumped up from his chair as if he had been electrified, and turned quite red with pleasure; and when at last we were able to say a few words quietly together, he said nothing but, ‘Fräulein von Strummin! how is it possible! how is it possible!’ Dear me, Elsa, it was really quite unnecessary for him to say anything more; I knew all about it now! But of course we did not stop there. I had to tell him how it was possible, and that I had been here for a fortnight with you—and—you must not think, Elsa, that I was foolish or indiscreet—we talked about you, of course, and why he never showed himself now—I was obliged to ask that! And then he said, ‘How gladly I would come I need not assure you’—with an emphasis on the you, Elsa, you know—‘unfortunately’—now listen, Elsa!—‘there are circumstances so powerful that with the best will in the world we cannot set them aside; and I beg you to believe that I suffer more from these circumstances than I can or dare say.’ And then he passed his hand across his brow and said, ‘I will certainly come once more, however, before I go away.’ ‘Where?’ ‘I had a letter yesterday evening from’—you will never guess, Elsa; he had a letter from the dear President, and—only think, Elsa!—he really has got the post of Superintendent of Pilots at Wissow—at Wissow, Elsa! I really did not know what to say for joy, but he read my feelings in my face, and smiled and said, ‘We shall be almost neighbours, then, Fräulein von Strummin.’ ‘And we will be neighbourly,’ said I. ‘That we will,’ said he. ‘And if we ever get a visit from Berlin,’ said I—‘And you honour me with an invitation,’ said he—‘you will come?’ said I. And then he said—no, then he said nothing, Elsa; but he pressed my hand! There, Elsa, take it back, for it was not meant for me, but for you, you dear, dear sweet thing!”
The two friends held each other in a long embrace, and then there ensued a searching investigation of the important question: What could Reinhold have meant by “circumstances!”
“We shall never get to the bottom of it,” said Meta at last; “the circumstances are just the circumstances that you are called Elsa von Werben and he is called Reinhold Schmidt, and that you are a wealthy heiress and might if you pleased marry the richest and most distinguished man, and that he is poor; and wife of the Superintendent of Pilots certainly does not sound so well as baroness or countess. Perhaps he has heard, too—people hear everything in Berlin—that you would lose your inheritance if you followed the dictates of your heart, and so he really is right in talking of ‘circumstances,’ dreadful circumstances.”
Elsa agreed with her in it all, but still could not see any reason why he had not come again to see them, and why even her father apparently avoided his name. She would confess now for the first time that three days ago she had been rejoicing exceedingly at the thought of the Sattelstädts’ party, because she knew that Reinhold had also been invited, and even there he had sent an excuse—a proof how he avoided every possibility of meeting her even on neutral ground.
“I will get to the bottom of it,” said Meta.
“How would it be possible?”
Meta laughed; “I never do anything by halves, tomorrow I shall go there again. Will you come with me?”
“Meta!”
“You would not do, either,” said Meta; “it must be an old lady, and a lady of some position. We have got one, however; tomorrow morning I shall pay her a visit, and tomorrow afternoon, as I said, we will begin.”
“But for goodness’ sake, Meta, what are you talking about?”
Meta said it ought to have been a surprise; but she could not manage it under three sittings at
