"Yes, an Assessor von Hahn, who has lately been transferred to the courts at A----, saw fit to pay my uncle a visit this morning. With his usual hospitality my uncle invited him to stay, and to my horror he accepted the invitation. He is a commonplace, tiresome man, and incredibly inquisitive. He has only one good quality, which is that he is a distant relative of yours." "Yes, the Hahns are remotely connected with my mother's family, but I never heard anything of them, and did not even know of the existence of an Assessor von Hahn." "I assure you it would mortify him excessively to hear you say so. He has already told my uncle and myself much with regard to his relationship to the Hohenwalds, and has deeply lamented that Castle Hohenwald is closed even to near connections. When he heard that your father had consented to have a governess for you he was overwhelmed with astonishment, and asked every imaginable question concerning Fraeulein Mueller, where she came from, who she was, how she looked; whether she were ugly or pretty, young or old, learned or ignorant. He wanted to know all about her, and I could see was greatly dissatisfied with the scanty information he gathered from us. He tormented me with questions about you and your brothers and your father, and I escaped from him only by slipping off when he was engaged for a moment with the newspaper. My uncle told him that I was in the habit of taking a solitary walk in the forest every afternoon, upon which he offered to accompany me, and was not at all dismayed by the terrible picture I drew of the difficulties of the path through the underbrush. I could not get away from him except by secret flight." "My precious cousin seems to be a very agreeable man," said Celia, laughing. "He is insufferable, and yet I ought to be glad of his visit. In his loquacity he supplied my uncle and myself with some important information which made it especially desirable that I should see you this afternoon." "Information that concerns me!----" "That concerns your brother Werner," Kurt replied, very gravely. "I am afraid he has allowed himself to be drawn into certain schemes which may place your father and Arno in a very embarrassing situation, although I do not believe that, as the Assessor hinted, they have any share in them. I never regretted so deeply as to-day that your father's and Arno's wretched prejudice against our family made it impossible for me to hasten to Hohenwald to warn your father, and to entreat him to turn a deaf ear to Werner's insidious whispers. I long to do this, but how would he receive one of the hated Posenecks? He would not credit my information, just because it came from me; he would repulse me as an unauthorized intruder. My warning would probably do more harm than good, and Arno is just as inaccessible as your father."