The young wife stood motionless as a statue. Only gradually the color came to her cheeks.
"That is a lie!" she cried, drawing a long breath. "Did you bring me here for _that_?"
"But Wolff was here," moaned Mrs. Baumhagen, "asking for my intervention."
"No, he came to _us_," corrected Jenny, "early this morning; he wanted to speak to Arthur, but Arthur--" she hesitated, "last evening Arthur--"
"You may as well say that Arthur started off suddenly on a journey in the night," interposed Mrs. Baumhagen sharply, "I am very fortunate in my children's marriages!"
"Well, I can't help it if he gets angry at every little thing," laughed the young wife, quite undisturbed. "Besides we are very happy."
"A pretty kind of happiness," grumbled the old gentleman to himself, so low that no one but Gertrude could hear it. Then he added aloud, "A hurried journey on business, we will call it, a sudden journey on business, preceded by a little curtain lecture."
"Oh, to be sure, a journey on business," said Mrs. Baumhagen in a tone of pique, "to Manchester."
"What has that got to do with Gertrude's affairs?" asked Uncle Henry, "It is enough that Arthur was not there, and the gentleman went up another flight and spoke to your mother, my child. It is not worth mentioning--if I had only been here sooner. It is very disagreeable that you should have heard of it, but believe me, my child, they all do it now-a-days."
The good-natured little man clapped her kindly on the shoulder.
Mrs. Baumhagen, however, started up like an angry lioness.
"Don't talk such nonsense! How can you smooth it over? It was nothing but a common swindle. I hope Gertrude has enough sense of dignity to tell Mr. Linden that--"
The young wife stood almost threatening before her in the middle of the room.
"But for mercy's sake! It will be the most scandalous case that was ever known," sobbed the excited lady. "He is going to sue Linden--you will both have to appear in court."
"Have the kindness to order a carriage, uncle," she entreated.
"No, you must not go away so! you look shockingly," was the anxious cry of her mother and sister.
"Do listen to reason, Gertrude," said Jenny in a complaining tone.
"We must silence Wolff--uncle can inquire how much he asks for his services, and--"