"In a serious one ... no, that will never happen to him. He's too cold, too superior for that ... he hasn't got enough temperament." "That's exactly why," explained Else, airing her knowledge of human nature. "He'll slip into some whirlpool or other and get taken out of his depth without his having noticed it, and some fine day he'll get married ... out of sheer indolence ... to some person or other who'll probably be absolutely indifferent to him." "You must have a definite suspicion," said Frau Ehrenberg. "I have." "Marianne?" "Marianne! but that's been over a long time, mamma. And that was never anything particularly serious, either." "Well, who is it then?" "Well whom do you think, mamma?" "I have no idea." "It's Anna," said Else curtly. "Which Anna?" "Anna Rosner, of course." "But...." "You can say 'but' as much as you like--it's a fact." "Else, you don't seriously think that Anna with her reserved character could so far forget herself as to----" "So far forget herself...? Really, mamma, the number of expressions you keep on using--anyway, I don't think that's quite a case of one's forgetting oneself." Frau Ehrenberg smiled, not without a certain pride. The bell rang outside. "It's he at last," said Else. "It might quite as well be Demeter Stanzides," observed Frau Ehrenberg. "Stanzides was to bring the Prince along sometime," said Else casually. "Do you think that will come off?" inquired Frau Ehrenberg, letting her knitting fall into her lap. "Why shouldn't it come off?" said Else. "They are so intimate." The door opened. As a matter of fact it was none of the expected visitors who came in, but Edmund Nürnberger. He was dressed, as always, with the greatest care, though not after the latest fashion. His tail coat was a little too short and an emerald pin was stuck in his voluminous satin tie. He bowed as soon as he had got to the door, though his demeanour expressed at the same time a certain irony at his own politeness. "Am I the first?" he inquired. "No one here yet? Not a Hofrat--nor a count--nor an author--nor a diabolical female?" "Only a woman who never was one, I'm sorry to say," answered Frau Ehrenberg as she shook hands with him. "And one ... who will perhaps become one sometime." "Oh, I am convinced," said Nürnberger, "that if she only takes it seriously, Fräulein Else will succeed in that." He stroked his smooth black somewhat glossy hair slowly with his left hand. Frau Ehrenberg expressed her regret that their expectation of his coming to Auhof had not been realised. Had he really spent the whole summer in Vienna? "Why do you wonder so much, my dear madam? Whether I am walking up and down among mountain scenery or by the shore of the sea or in my own room, it doesn't really matter much in the end." "But you must have felt quite lonely," said Frau Ehrenberg.