So saying, he offered his arm with cool politeness, and led her back to the ball-room. The waltz was not yet finished as they entered; Graefin Antonie floated past them in the full light of the wax tapers, moving in time to the lively music, with Eugen as her partner--and in the distance died away the last note of the post horn! CHAPTER V. Seven years had passed by, altering many things, and burying away and blotting out others, and, as often happens in life, so also here the reality had been very, very different from the hopes and expectations of mankind. Of the artistic fame of Eugen Reinert one heard little or nothing. Certainly his first great work, the portrait of Countess Arnau, which was exhibited publicly, created much stir, and justified the highest hopes for the future. But with this picture, which certainly bore the stamp of originality, and created a name for him in the artistic world, he appeared to have exhausted his best powers. He still painted portraits, though exclusively of those who belonged to aristocratic circles, the _entree_ of which he had obtained through his wife, and in these his work was always considered as full of genius, but real art critics did not think much of them, and they were little noticed by the public. Eugen's principal fault, want of energy and perseverance, became more and more perceptible as time went on. He fluctuated continually between different studies of all sorts, tried everything and finished nothing, sketched out the most ambitious plans, but carried none into execution, and wasted his great talent upon the distinguished, but often uninteresting faces of counts and "excellencies," and the albums of aristocratic ladies. Since good fortune had thrown the gifts into his lap, without trouble on his part, which he had once hoped to obtain through his art, his pleasure in it, and even his capabilities, seemed to be exhausted. What reason had he for working still? The riches, which his wife brought him, and the connections he was able to make through these, as well as the splendidly appointed house supported through them, secured all the enjoyments of life to him, as well as an undisputed position in society, and when, in the course of a few years, the title of "Von" was added to his name, "on account of his services to art," the highest degree of earthly fame seemed to have been attained.