quainted with them all. I will give a ball, and invite the whole circle of your grandmother’s acquaintances. And now when I think of it I am glad you have come incongnito, otherwise we should have been tormented with schemes upon you. Well, in a week then, and by the bye it will just be your birth-day, I shall introduce you to the fair citizens of Klarenburg. There are several of them certainly who may make an impression on you; but do not give way to the feeling that you must make your election from among them. If your heart is not fairly captivated, return quietly home to the capital; just act as if you were totally unconscious of the matter of the sealed paper, and in doing so you may be sure that you are exactly fulfilling your grandmother’s intentions.”
The prospect of the ball did not lessen my anxiety. To have had an opportunity of reviewing the fair faces of Klarenburg by myself would have been excellent sport; but now I was to be under the eye of Mrs Waldmark, who, of course, would observe me so narrowly that I would not be able to act with any degree of freedom or ease of manners. However I spent the whole of the day with the good old lady, whose conversation was highly interesting to me.
On my return to the Blue Angel, Lewis told me that his master and party had not yet come home, and expressed some apprehension lest they should be overtaken by a storm which now seemed approaching. The loquacious waiter soon put me in possession of a great deal of information regarding his master and family; he informed me that Mr Weinlich possessed a small country-house, whither he frequently retired with a few particular friends, and spent a few hours very gaily,—news which, by the way, did not greatly contribute to mollify my resentment. On passing No. 2, and 3, in company with Lewis, the idea occurred to me that I ought to play a trick on my military rival, and accordingly I told him that I understood No. 3, was set apart for Mr Blum, and that I had just heard that my friend was to reach the Blue
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