"Do you think so?" Paul asked mockingly. "Your wisdom is profound, noble knight, almost as profound as my own. One cannot lose what one does not possess; my admiration for the fair Eva has nothing to do with my heart. I should hardly have spoken of her so frankly to you had I been in love with her; reassure yourself on that score. I am only filled with remorse for having so misjudged her, and perhaps thereby strengthened others--our Leo for example--in their false estimate of her. Do you know what I have been pondering for the last half-hour?" "How should I?" "I will tell you; I have been dreaming of a happy future for our friend. It is particularly stupid to indulge in waking dreams, but it is a habit of mine, and I cannot get rid of it. I saw Leo with a charming young wife,--saw him wealthy and happy, valued by every one as a true artist and scholar, and beloved as a friend by all who stand in need of aid or counsel. I saw him thus, and his lovely young wife gave me a bewitching glance from her dreamy dark eyes, and smiled the gentle, kindly smile which I saw to-day for the first time. It was a dream, Herwarth, but a delightful dream, and I wish I could make it a reality. Leo and Eva! What a charming couple they would make!" "You forget that Fräulein Schommer is betrothed." "To that scoundrel Bertram! That is what vexes me, and what I cannot understand. This betrothal was a puzzle to me when I thought Fräulein Schommer a cold, heartless, vain, purse-proud creature; even then I did not see how she could throw herself away upon the fellow, and the only explanation I could find was that she had fallen in love with his smooth, handsome face. But she does not love him; I know it now, and I know more than that,--I read in her face to-day that this engagement is a disgrace in her eyes, and that she despises Bertram. And yet she is betrothed to him! She shrinks when he is spoken of as her lover; she never speaks of him except as _Herr von Bertram_; she confesses that his presence wearies her, and yet she is his betrothed! I cannot understand these contradictions; I must discover what they mean; and if I find that this Herr von Bertram has played false with Fräulein Eva, and perhaps with me, let him look to himself. He has not yet reached the goal of his hopes,--an engagement may be broken,--and I do not relinquish the hope that my dream may be fulfilled,--that Leo and Eva may come together at last!"