"A most natural wish too! One which every mother cherishes for a grown-up daughter. And as an old friend of the family I heartily join in the wish, and do not for a moment doubt that we shall readily agree as to what we shall expect her husband to be." "I am not so sure on that point." "Let us try anyhow. Firstly, he should be noble!" "That is not your conviction." "Then let it be a concession. If people wish to come to an understanding they must be prepared to make concessions." "This concession I accept gladly. Go on, please." "He should not be a scholar by profession; but have a good--a man of the world's--education, and a taste for the fine arts. In fact, we want a cavalier, of course, in the best sense of the word." "Agreed." "He need not be wealthy. In fact, it would be preferable that he had no fortune, he would in that case be all the more indebted to Erna." "Most true!" "He should not be a landed proprietor, or at least not a man who feels it a duty and an absolute necessity to live in the country and devote himself to agriculture. Best of all, he should have no definite calling, or, anyhow, only one which did not impose difficult and troublesome duties; say a position which should have it as a natural consequence that the man in question moved in the best society, and even came occasionally into pleasant contact with Court circles." "Best of friends, how strangely skilled you are in reading a mother's heart!" "Let me, then, look to the very bottom of it, where possibly the name of the individual in question is already written. If I read the characters correctly, they form the name ..." "Now I am truly keen to know." "Baron Kuno von Lotter-Vippach." "Lydia has told you!" "No. Neither Fräulein von Aschhof nor any one else has spoken to me, I give you my word of honour." "But it is most strange ..." "Why so strange? Am I not a very old friend, to whom you have many a time talked on most important topics, and whom you have many a time honoured with your most intimate confidence?" "Then it is all the better, all the more deserving of my gratitude; and I thank you heartily, sincerely ..." She had seized both his hands; her beautiful countenance, now lighted up with a flush of gladness, had never been more beautiful; yet to Bertram it appeared like some hideous mask. "I cannot accept your thanks," he said, withdrawing his hands with slight and very hurried pressure. "I could but do so honestly, if I shared those wishes of yours which I have guessed. That is not quite the case. The impression which Baron Lotter made upon me yesterday was not specially favourable; to be quite open, the impression was unfavourable."