But the Count had already observed the party and came up to them eagerly, holding out both hands to the other gentleman, who went forward a few steps to meet him. "My dear Wallbach, I am delighted to see you!" "How long have you been here?" "Since yesterday evening; will you introduce me to the ladies?" "My wife--my sister Carla----" "I had the pleasure two winters ago; but----" "Oh, we have better memories in Berlin than you seem to give us credit for, Count Golm," cried Carla, "especially for gentlemen who make themselves so scarce. Why did we not see you last winter?" "I was in Italy, Fräulein von Wallbach, and in Paris." "Oh, that dear dear Paris! We have not been there for an eternity; the last time was the year before the war. They say it has not altered at all, but I cannot believe it. Then there was such a brilliant court--and now--c'est désolant! But sit down by us; there is room if we sit closer together." Carla drew aside her voluminous skirts. "I am afraid of being in your way," said the Count, but sat down in the place so readily made for him, while Herr von Wallbach glanced despairingly at his varnished boots. "We have been talking immensely about you this last few days," said Carla. "Dear Elsa! she is so enchanted with Golmberg, it must really be a perfect paradise. Is not Elsa enchanting? We all spoil her here, Ottomar says, and he spoils her more than any one." "Who is Ottomar, if I may ask?" "Herr von Werben!" said Wallbach, casting a glance of displeasure upon Carla, "the Lieutenant." "Oh, his name is Ottomar!" said the Count. "Our families are so very intimate," said Herr von Wallbach. "My poor brother, you know, fell at the siege of Paris by Von Werben's side." "True! true! I remember," said the Count, who knew nothing about it. "And naturally that increased our intimacy," said Carla. "Sorrow always brings people closer together," and she compressed still further the ample folds of her dress. "True! true!" said the Count. "Sorrow--and happiness too." "Ah, you are a philosopher! I love philosophy! Schopenhauer gave me the most intense pleasure. Are you not enchanted with Hartmann?" "Who may that be?" thought the Count; and aloud he said, "Certainly--at least----" "Then you do not know him, at least thoroughly; I know him by heart. There are only three men now to be studied, and studied again and again--Bismarck, Hartmann, and Wagner. The politics of the present, the music of the future, opened out to us by the philosophy of the unknown; in them you see the stamp of this century." "I am quite anxious to make Herr von Werben's acquaintance," said the Count, by way of taking part in the conversation. "Quand on parle du loup--mon Dieu! he really does look like a wolf," cried Carla, whose ever busy eye-glasses had perceived Ottomar the moment he appeared in the room, with the anger and displeasure at Ferdinanda's supposed flight still apparent in his troubled looks and gloomy eyes.