should be whispered about that you are a politician you are ruined, Leo. An officer with an interest in politics is a lost man; if my warning voice has any influence Leo von Heydeck shall never fall so low. Throw the paper away, my dear fellow, and be a man; let us follow the example of our comrades the dragoons, Herr von Bertram and Count Waldheim, and criticise the lovely ladies driving past; this is just the time for it. Look! there comes the fairest of the fair, the richest of the rich, the loveliest of the lovely, divine Eva Schommer!"

Leo von Heydeck suddenly dropped his newspaper and glanced in the direction indicated by his friend, but on the instant his face darkened; he hastily looked around him to observe the effect produced upon the group of officers beneath the awning by the approach of the celebrated beauty, and then quietly took up his paper again and seemed to become more than ever absorbed in it. He did not even look up as the barouche in which the object of so much admiration sat rolled past.

He was, however, the only one upon the veranda who accorded no notice to the fair occupant of the barouche; every officer present gazed after her with the greatest interest, and some few, who had enjoyed the happy privilege of an introduction, saluted her with distinguished courtesy. Among these fortunate individuals were the two dragoons, Herr von Bertram and Count Waldheim; as soon as they were aware of the approach of the equipage each started up from his negligent attitude and standing close behind the balustrade bowed low as if to some princess. Certainly no princess could have acknowledged their salute with a slighter or haughtier inclination of the head than that with which it was received in this instance.

Carelessly leaning back among the satin cushions of the elegant barouche of which she was the sole occupant, Fräulein Eva Schommer seemed to receive the homage offered her but as a fitting tribute to her beauty; no smile played about her pensive mouth as she thus slightly bowed, and her large dark eyes scarcely deigned to rest for an instant upon the two dragoons. Suddenly her cheek flushed a little, and a degree of animation lit up her face for an instant as she shot one fleeting glance at the figure sitting absorbed in the newspaper and not even looking up as her barouche drove past. The next minute she turned away her head and replied most courteously to the passing salutation of a rider, who cantered on a blood horse past her equipage.

Like an apparition the barouche drawn by its pair of thoroughbreds flashed past Büchner's awning and was soon lost to sight as it turned almost immediately into a cross street. With it the degree of excitement which its approach had produced also vanished; the two dragoons took their seats again, put their feet up upon the rail of the balustrade, and balanced themselves after their old elegant fashion.

The younger infantry officer, who had also sprung from his seat and bowed to the lady most courteously without however receiving any acknowledgment in return, now resumed his seat, and regarded his friend still zealously perusing the newspaper with immense astonishment. "This is too much, Leo!" he exclaimed. "There you sit and never even look up as she drives past; have you a heart of stone? You were the only one whom she looked at; the only one of us to whom she deigned a glance, and you pore over your politics all the while as if you meditated mounting the rostrum yourself. 'Pon honour, Leo, she did bestow a look upon you which would have driven many a fellow who had chanced to get it wild."

"You must have been mistaken, Kuno," Leo replied, indifferently, although his friend's words did not seem quite devoid of interest for him, for he folded his paper and laid it aside; perhaps he had entirely finished his perusal of the most interesting proceedings in Chambers.

"Kuno von Herwarth is never mistaken," the young officer said, with mock heroism. "I beg you to remember that I said, 'Upon my honour she bestowed a look upon you,' which entirely forbids all possibility of a mistake on my part."

"Of course," Leo replied, good-humouredly. "I do not doubt you for an instant. Why should the young lady not have accorded us a fleeting glance? I only cannot believe that it rested especially upon me."

"And why not? Were you not presented to Fräulein Schommer by her uncle at the fête-champêtre at Schönsee?"

"True: the young lady was so gracious as to accede to her uncle's request on the occasion, and I could not without discourtesy refuse to be presented."

"Refuse to be presented? Really, Leo, I cannot understand you. There is not one of our comrades who would not think himself lucky if he could contrive an introduction to Fräulein Schommer, and you----"

"I do not join in the universal adulation, the nonsensical idolatry, offered to the lady," Leo interrupted his friend. "I very unwillingly consented to be presented to her, and was justly punished for my consent by the negligent hauteur with which I was received. She scarcely deigned me a glance, and received the few polite remarks which I made to her after my presentation in so indifferent a silence that I had no inducement to pursue a conversation evidently distasteful to her. Afterwards, when by chance my seat was next hers in the boat upon the lake, I again, as courtesy I thought required, said a few words to her, to which however she returned such icy monosyllabic replies that I gladly left her to her conversation with her neighbour on the other side, the old Privy Councillor's wife, Madame von Sturmhaupt, with whom she could talk fast enough."

"Take care of yourself, Leo!" Kuno replied, with a laugh. "This indifference of yours towards Fräulein Schommer does not seem quite genuine. Else why should you be so offended by her cold reception of you when you were presented to her?"

"You are wrong; I am not in the least offended, for I do but share the fate of all those who do not possess at least a million. Otherwise you are perfectly correct in saying that I am not indifferent to Fräulein Eva Schommer,--I do not like her! I will not deny that she is handsome,--extremely handsome,--but her whole bearing is distasteful to me. Pride or, to speak more correctly, self-conceit I always dislike,--purse-pride is inexpressibly odious to me. But enough of this, Kuno; do not let us talk of it: this at all events is not a fit place for such discussion."

"You should have thought of that before, Herr von Heydeck," Lieutenant von Bertram interposed at this point. He had been an attentive listener to the foregoing conversation, and now rose and approached Leo with much arrogance of manner.

Guido von Bertram was about as old as Leo von Heydeck; if mere regularity of features constitute beauty he was the handsomer man, but in his face there was none of the frank manliness which lent such a charm to Von Heydeck. He evidently affected the man of extreme fashion: the eye-glass stuck in his right eye, and the drawling tone of his voice, were in harmony with his entire bearing.

As he stood before Leo von Heydeck he adjusted the said eye-glass more firmly in position, and scanned his opponent most offensively. Leo looked up in surprise; he had been on terms of intimacy with the dragoon in former years, but this intimacy had long since ceased. Bertram's sudden interruption therefore took him quite by surprise; before he could reply Bertram continued, emphasizing each word as he drawled it out, "You have allowed yourself to speak in a highly-offensive manner of a young lady with whom I have the honour to claim acquaintance; I must beg you to retract all that you have said."

The words were too distinct to be misunderstood. Leo perceived that Bertram was endeavouring to