With this she turned her back upon the heir, and a second later left the room.
"Will, what does this mean?" sounded the voice of Frau von Eschenhagen, who stood in the half-open door. As she received no answer, she crossed the room to her son's side with a step and manner which prophesied no good for that young man.
"That was a most remarkable scene which I have just witnessed. Will you be good enough to explain to me what it signifies? That little insignificant thing, bubbling over with passion and anger, telling you the most disgraceful things to your very face, and you standing there like a sheep, taking them all."
"Because she had the right to say them," said Will, still looking down at the scattered rose leaves.
"She had what?" asked the mother, who could not believe she heard aright.
The young heir raised his head and looked at her; his face wore a new and singular expression.
"She had the right of it, mother. It is true you have always treated me like a school-boy, so how could I defend myself against such an accusation?"
"Boy, I believe you have lost your senses," said Frau Regine.
Willibald was roused now. He continued: "I am no boy, I am the heir of Burgsdorf, and twenty-seven years old. You have always forgotten that, mother, and so have I, for that matter, but I remember it to-day."
Frau von Eschenhagen gazed astonished at her son, so tractable all his life until this moment. "I verily believe you are becoming refractory. Let us have no more of it, for you know I would never permit such a thing. What has come over you that you make such reckless assertions? Because I have seen fit to bring this very unsuitable intercourse to an end, and dismiss this Marietta, do you take it upon yourself, as soon as my back is turned, to make formal apologies and present her with roses which you have just plucked for your bride? I don't know what's come over you. It's the first time in your life you ever acted so. Toni will be very much displeased when she learns what has become of her roses. It served you just right to have the little vixen trample them under foot. You won't be guilty of such idiotic folly soon again, I fancy."
"I did not pluck the roses for Toni, but for Fräulein Volkmar," Will explained, defiantly.