"Of course I shall be agreeable! If she doesn’t freeze me, I shall do everything I can to make her feel she is one of us. At least——" she hesitated, "I suppose she is one of us, isn’t she? Who was she before she married Wolff?" "My dear, if you knew you wouldn’t be much the wiser," Seleneck said, preparing for departure. "English people are different. I believe it is quite an honour to marry a rich tea-merchant—or a rich anybody, for that matter. As far as I know, Frau von Arnim was a parson’s daughter, and quite good family. The fact that Wolff married her and has been able to stay in the Army is guarantee enough." Elsa von Seleneck looked relieved. "Of course!" she said. "How stupid of me! Well, I shall go and see what I can do to help her. I expect she is in frightful trouble with her servants. I know I am." She accompanied her husband to the door of their flat, brushed an imaginary speck of dust off his uniform, kissed him and rushed to the window to wave him a last farewell as he rode off down the quiet street. Until eleven o’clock she busied herself with her household matters, then arrayed herself in her best clothes and set off on the proposed voyage of discovery. The Adler Strasse lay at some considerable distance, and Frau von Seleneck was both hot and exhausted by the time she reached the unpretentious little house where the Arnims had taken up their quarters. She had not made use of the trams, because if you start taking trams in Berlin you can spend a fortune, and she had no fortune to spend. Moreover, she was a rotund little person, with a dangerous tendency to stoutness, and exercise therefore was a good excuse for saving the pfennige. Certainly she had exercise enough before she reached the Arnims’ flat. It was on the top floor, and even for Frau von Seleneck’s taste, which was not that of a pampered millionaire, the stairs were unusually steep and narrow and smelly. From the tiny landing where the visitor sought room to wait patiently for the opening of the hall door, it was possible to make a close guess at the various dinners which were being prepared in all four flats. Boiled vegetables formed the staple odour, and as, according to the unwritten law which governs German flats, all the staircase windows were hermetically sealed, it was very noticeable indeed. Not that this troubled Frau von Seleneck in the least. What did trouble her was the obstinate silence which greeted her vigorous application of the electric bell. At last, after one exceptionally determined peal, the door was cautiously opened, and Frau von Seleneck found herself welcomed by a girl who stared at her with an amusing mixture of alarm and indignation, Frau von Seleneck’s inner comment was to the point. "Pretty servants are always a trouble," she thought. "This one will certainly be having love affairs with the Bursche. I shall warn Frau von Arnim at once."