Aunt Rikchen had plainly read his thoughts in his face. She answered his silent request by a quick furtive glance and an almost imperceptible shrug of the shoulders, as if to say, "He is always like that now! There is no help for it." Ferdinanda did not seem to notice the interruption. She sat as she had sat almost throughout the whole meal, with a fixed, absent look on her face, gazing straight before her, and took no notice even now, when her aunt turned towards her to say a few words. Uncle Ernst, who was just about to refill his empty glass, set the bottle down heavily upon the table. "I have begged you fifty times to stop that dreadful whispering, Rike! What is the matter now?" A slight flush of anger rose in Aunt Rikchen's withered cheeks as the hated name sounded in her ear; but she answered in the voice expressive of resigned indifference, with which she was accustomed to reply to her brother's reproofs: "Oh, nothing! I only asked Ferdinanda whether Justus was not coming this evening." "Who is Justus?" asked Reinhold, delighted that a fresh subject had been started. "Rike likes to call everybody by their Christian names," said Uncle Ernst. "And why not, when they almost belong to the family?" replied Aunt Rikchen, who seemed determined this time not to be put down. "Justus, or, if your uncle prefers it, Herr Anders, is a young sculptor." "Aged one and thirty," said Uncle Ernst. "Aged one and thirty," pursued Aunt Rikchen, "or, to be more precise, three and thirty. He has lived here--who knows how long he has lived here?" "Don't you know, Ferdinanda?" asked Uncle Ernst. "Ferdinanda is in fact his pupil," continued Aunt Rikchen. "Oh!" said Reinhold. "I congratulate him." "It is not worth while," said Ferdinanda. "His favourite pupil!" exclaimed Aunt Rikchen. "He told me so only yesterday, and that the committee are very much pleased with her 'Shepherd Boy.' I must tell you that Ferdinanda has sent to the exhibition a shepherd boy, executed from the description in Schiller's poem--" "'Uhland,' aunt." "I beg your pardon, I have not had such advantages in education as some people--now I don't remember what I was saying." "It won't make much odds," grumbled Uncle Ernst. "You were speaking of Ferdinanda's 'Shepherd Boy,'" said Reinhold, coming to her assistance. His aunt shot a grateful look at him, but before he could answer the bell rang, and a clear voice was heard asking whether they were still at supper. "It is Justus!" cried Aunt Rikchen. "I thought so. Have you had any supper?" CHAPTER IV.