"It is all charming!" she said, looking about her very much as though she were in a gallery of art-treasures. "I do not see how it could be better. And how good have you chose the colours! The chairs are almost the same tint as the paper, aren’t they?—not quite, perhaps, but nearly. And the curtains are exquisite. How I envy you! When you come to see us, you will say, ’Ach! how is all old and shady!’ and you will pity us long-married people." "Perhaps you would like to see the other rooms?" Nora suggested, who had never mastered the problem as to what one did with visitors who called at twelve o’clock in the morning. Frau von Seleneck expressed herself more than willing, and a close inspection was made of the five large-sized cupboards which served the Arnims as abode. "Really, one can hardly know which is the most delightful," Frau von Seleneck declared at the end. "Everything is so tasty, as you English say—so bijou." "A little stuffy, don’t you think?" Nora said timidly. "I can never get enough air, and the stairs are sometimes quite—unpleasant. Didn’t you notice it?" "_Ach, was!_" Frau von Seleneck exclaimed. "You should smell ours when our down-below neighbours have their wash-day. Then you might complain. But one must not complain. It is the greatest mistake possible—and so ungrateful. Everything is so delightful, you know." "Yes, I suppose it is," Nora said hesitatingly. Frau von Seleneck gave a comfortable little laugh, and patted her on the shoulder. "You don’t think so, _Verehrteste_? You must do like I. Six days in the week I thank _dem lieben Gott_ that my neighbours wash not, and the seventh I think of my sins. That way I can almost enjoy the smell. And after all, it is quite a little smell, and my sins are sometimes——" She spread out her arms to indicate an immeasurable immensity, and Nora laughed. Her visitor’s good spirits were so infectious that she forgot her futile discussion with the cook, and the impenetrable stupidity of the Bursche, and began to believe that everything really was "delightful." "I will think of your advice next time I want to grumble," she said, as they re-entered the drawing-room. "Perhaps it will help me over some bad moments." Frau von Seleneck took her hand, and, to Nora’s surprise, embraced her affectionately. "That is why I am here," she said. "The others—the _Spitzen_, superior officers and wives, you know—you will have to visit first. But I thought I could help you. I am such an old soldier." She laughed again, and then became suddenly thoughtful. "Have you yet called upon the Mayos?" she asked. "No," Nora answered abruptly. "Then you must do so at once—they are important people, and Major von Mayo is your husband’s direct superior. You know, at the beginning it is important that you should offend no one—one cannot be too particular." "I met Frau von Mayo in Karlsburg," Nora said. "I did not like her—she was rude and ill-mannered."