Lori's eyes shone. Here was a chance, and the daughters of the upper classes might wait. With rapid change of front, she turned away from her brother-in-law and looked on without jealousy while Emma buttoned up his overcoat. She herself began to pour out a cornucopia of sweetness which was only destined for Herr von Blanden. She possessed _esprit_ and aspirations, did that little Lori, and under pedagogic education the _enfant terrible_ would have developed into a more reserved lady of mental acuteness. "I imagine life to be so beautiful in those primeval forests, where elks and bison rove as in the days of the blessed Pikullus! How delightful to be able thus to live upon one's recollections. You have seen the world, Herr von Blanden; what a miserable part we must play compared with you. You have seen the snowy peaks of the Himalaya, the calm lakes of Thibet, the cloisters and pagodas, the tea-gardens of Japan and the tea-plantations of the Celestial Empire. Lions, tigers and apes are as familiar to you as generals, counsellors and dancing partners of the _haute volée_ are to us; how insignificant to you must the society appear that revolves in a circle upon this tiny spot of earth! And yet you should not live in such retirement; a man of intellect such as you is guilty of robbing us all, of robbing society even when he buries himself in quietude." Blanden listened with polite attention, when his glance suddenly fell upon two ladies who passed by, accompanied by an officer and several gentlemen, and who were greeted on all sides. His glance had only swept slightly over the features of the one; but there was no doubt she was his _principessa_ of the Lago Maggiore. He would have liked to spring up and follow her; but how could he treat the gifted speaker so cavalierly who turned to him with such ardour and held him enthralled in the spell of her eyes and words. From that moment, however, his distraction was unmistakable; his glances wandered into space, but Lori would not release the victim of her eloquence. "You must spend the winter season in the town here; oh, you have more female admirers than you imagine; you will be _fêted_ as you deserve, for in truth the world is not so well supplied with intellectual men as it appears to be, when one sees so many wildly luxuriant whiskers and menacing eyebrows and the superior smile, which after all means so little, of so many lords of creation. No, no, Herr von Blanden, you must not withdraw yourself from society, you cannot condemn yourself to everlasting solitude; too many wistful glances, that would be glad to share it, follow you." "Lori's distaff buzzes incessantly to-day," said Albertina, casting a glance ready for conquest upon the gentleman sitting beside her.