"They really are." "Suppose instead of teasing me as though I were still ten and you a great bully, you talked sensibly. The Hohensteins give a _bal masqué_ to-night, and I gave it up to come to you." "Oh, my dear, that was really kind," said Lohm, touched by the tremendousness of this sacrifice. "Then be a good boy," said Trudi caressingly, edging herself closer to him, "and tell me you are going to be wise about Bibi. Don't throw such a chance away--it's positively wicked." "My dear Trudi, you'll have us in the ditch. It is very nice when you lean against me, but I can't drive. By the way, you remember my old Kleinwalde neighbour? The old man who spoilt you so atrociously?" "Bibi will make a most excellent wife," said Trudi, ungratefully indifferent to the memory of old Joachim. "Oh, what a cold wind there is to-day. Do drive faster, Axel. What a taste, to live here and to like it into the bargain!" "You know that I must live here." "But you needn't like it." "You've heard that old Joachim left Kleinwalde to his English niece?" "You have only seen Bibi once, and she grows on one tremendously." "I want to talk about old Joachim." "And I want to talk about Bibi." "Well, Bibi can wait. She is the younger. You know about the old man's will?" "I should think I did. One of his unfortunate sons has just joined our regiment. You should hear him on the subject." "A most disagreeable, grasping lot," said Lohm decidedly. "They received every bit of their dues, and are all well off. Surely the old man could do as he liked with the one place that was not entailed?" "It isn't the usual thing to leave one's land to a foreigner. Is she coming to live in it?" "She came last week." "Oh?" This in a tone of sudden interest. There was a pause. Then Trudi said, "Is she young?" "Quite young." "Pretty?" "Exceedingly pretty." Trudi looked up at him and smiled. "Well?" said Axel, smiling back at her. "Well?" said Trudi, continuing to smile. Axel laughed outright. "My dear Trudi, your astuteness terrifies me. You not only know already why I wrote to you, but you know more reasons for the letter than I myself dream of. I want to be able to help this extremely helpless young lady, and I can hardly be of any use to her because I have no woman in the house. If I had a wife I could be of the greatest assistance." "Only then you wouldn't want to be." "Certainly I should." "Pray, why?" "Because I have a greater debt of obligations to her uncle than I can ever repay to his niece." "Oh, nonsense--nobody pays their debts of obligations. The natural thing to do is to hate the person who has forced you to be grateful, and to get out of his way." "My dear Trudi, this shrewdness----" murmured her brother. Then he added, "I know perfectly well that your thoughts have already flown to a wedding. Mine don't reach farther than an elderly companion." "Who for? For you?"