Here was a dark spot in Lucie's otherwise contented life at Castle Hohenwald, and there was one still darker in the anxiety she felt at the Finanzrath's demeanour towards her. There was surely no sufficient cause for this anxiety, for the cultured man of the world never transcended conventional bounds. He was attentive and polite, but never officious; his courtesy and kindness never degenerated into any familiarity which Lucie could be justified in resenting. When he extolled her beauty and amiability, her delightful singing, her admirable instruction of Celia, and spoke of the excellent influence she exerted over her pupil, it was all done after so refined a fashion that she could not take exception to what was said. The old Freiherr said precisely the same things, though far more bluntly. And yet Lucie could not away with a feeling of uneasiness with which the Finanzrath's manner always inspired her. The news of the prolongation of his leave of absence was very unwelcome to her; it made her really unhappy. CHAPTER X. "There comes Werner again!" Arno said to his father, when an extra post was again seen approaching Castle Hohenwald; and the announcement did not seem particularly to delight the old Freiherr. The Finanzrath had spent a few days in Dresden about the end of May in arranging for another prolongation of his leave of absence. He had been successful, and upon his return had remained at the castle only a few days when a letter arrived for him from Paris. He immediately declared that he must go to Berlin, where a friend whom he had not seen for a long while was awaiting him. He departed, remaining away but a few days, when he returned, only to leave again after two days, this time to see an old college friend in Hanover, and to take a trip to Cassel, where another of his friends resided. Even after this journey he was not content to stay quietly at home. He had scarcely been at the castle for a week when he left it again for a somewhat longer tour; he wished to visit the South German capitals, Stuttgart and Munich, passing several days in Vienna, and returning by way of Dresden. The Freiherr received Werner's announcement that this time he should be absent two weeks, and could not return to the castle before the beginning of July, with a smile of satisfaction; he was not at all displeased that his eldest son should break in upon his prolonged stay at Castle Hohenwald with these frequent journeys. He as well as the other inmates of the castle felt relieved when the carriage with the Finanzrath inside rolled out of the court-yard. "Werner makes the atmosphere dense; he kicks up a dust wherever he goes," the old man was wont to say in excuse of his evident relief at his son's departure; and was it therefore to be wondered at that he greeted with a sigh Arno's exclamation, "There comes Werner again!"