He entered Erna's room in his travelling-suit, and said, without sitting down and as if by the way, "I wanted to tell you that an hour ago I had a letter from Waltenberg. He came to Heilborn yesterday, intending to spend some weeks there, and will probably pay you a visit to-morrow."
The words seemed to be carelessly spoken, but they were accompanied by a keen glance at Erna, who received the intelligence with indifference, and replied, "Indeed? I will let Alice and Frau von Lasberg know."
"Frau von Lasberg knows it already, and will pay him all requisite attention; but I should wish a certain regard accorded him from--another quarter. Do you hear, Erna?"
"I was not aware, uncle, that I had seemed regardless of your guest."
"My guest? As if you did not know as well as I what attracts him to this house, and what has brought him to Heilborn. He wishes to know his fate with certainty, and I cannot blame him for wearying, after being trifled with all these months."
"I have never trifled with Herr von Waltenberg," Erna rejoined, coolly. "I merely thought it best to maintain a degree of reserve with him, since he seems to imagine that he has only to stretch out his hand to obtain whatever he may desire."
"Well, we will not dispute about that, for you seem to have pursued precisely the right course, with your cool reserve. Men like Waltenberg, who make a positive cult of their liberty, and regard all family ties as so many fetters, need to be dealt with very carefully. Too ready a welcome might have made him shy. What is withheld attracts him."
The girl's eyes flashed indignantly: "Such calculation is yours, uncle, not mine!"
"No matter, if it is correct," said Nordheim, paying no heed to the reproach contained in her words. "I have refrained from interfering hitherto because I saw that the affair was progressing as I would have it, but now I desire you no longer to avoid a declaration on Waltenberg's part. I have no doubt that he will shortly propose to you, and your answer----"
"May, perhaps, not accord with his wishes," Erna completed the sentence.
The president turned and looked searchingly at his niece: "What does that mean? You would not be insane enough to reject him?"
She was silent, but the same obstinacy was legible in her face that had characterized the girl of sixteen. Nordheim probably recognized the look and what it foreboded, for he frowned darkly.
