'I am already sick of this subject of the war,' said Charlie, as he lingered over a cigar; 'one hears so much of it everywhere. By the way, have you yet seen your fair cousin, Heinrich?' 'Yes.' 'And found her charming?' 'Beyond my fondest hopes; but she knew not that I had seen her, nor, in truth, did I care much to intrude upon her.' 'Intrude!--upon your intended?' 'That is the word,' said the Count, with a strange smile. 'Why, Herr Graf?' 'Don't "Herr Graf" me. Call me Heinrich.' 'Well?' 'A deuced fellow, named Ludwig Mansfeld (I found it so in the _Fremden Buch_, at the Grand Hotel), has cut me out--quite.' 'Have him out in another fashion, and I am the man to measure the ground for you.' 'Thanks, Carl, but I would rather fire at my own figure in a mirror,' said Frankenburg, laughing. 'You are sure your friends expect me at the Schloss?' 'Yes, at Frankenburg; they are familiar with your name there. I have written so often of you to Ernestine, my sister.' 'She was educated in England, I believe?' 'With Herminia at the west end of London; so you and she will get on famously together. As you are a musician, you will like her immensely, Carl.' 'I have no doubt of that.' Little indeed could poor Charlie Pierrepont foresee all Ernestine was yet to be to him. 'I am a bad fellow, I fear,' said the Count reflectively; 'I have trifled with too many women in my time, and fear that I am not worthy of this sweet cousin of mine, even if she would have me.' 'Nay, nay, Heinrich----' 'Somebody writes, that "if we were all judged by our deservings, there is scarcely a man on earth would find a woman _bad_ enough for him."' 'That is taking a low estimate of mankind in general.' 'And of the 95th Thuringians in particular,' added the young Count, laughing; 'to-morrow we shall start for Frankenburg in an open britzka--it is only twenty-five miles from this; and now, one bottle more of St. Julian, and then we shall go and see the girls at the gardens of the Prinz Carl.' 'Half German and half French--some of them are, no doubt, very pretty.' 'Nay, I hope they are wholly German now. It was in those gardens I first met my beautiful cousin, with that devil of a fellow, who, somehow, got introduced to her. Let us go then; the band of the 76th Hanoverians plays there every evening. This time to-morrow will find us at dear old Frankenburg, where, as I shall have the girl all to myself, I hope to turn the flank of this Herr Mansfeld. I am in love with my cousin--actually in love with her at last.' 'My simple comrade, of what are you talking? Is this any age of the world in which to wear your heart upon your sleeve? Is this fellow Mansfeld good-looking?' 'Rather,' said the Count, twirling the points of his moustaches, and eyeing himself complacently in the depths of a great mirror opposite; 'but I wish I had your general success, Carl.' 'In what--I took honours in nothing at dear old Rugby.' 'Indeed--not even in flirtation?'