"Oh, the child is happy enough, but how about her serene Highness?" chimed in Mr. Baumhagen.
"I would far rather have her say, 'My child has gone to live in a peasant's house,' than, '_We_ had to build first,'" remarked Linden, drily.
The old gentleman laughed comfortably to himself.
"Yes, yes, that is just what she would say--and she wants to go on a journey--it is astonishing! My dear old mother sought comfort in occupation when my father died--that was the good old custom--now-a-days people go on a journey. It would be better for Jenny, poor thing, if she were to sorrow deeply here in her home. But no, she must be dragged away so the whistle of the locomotive may drive away her last memory of her little one's voice. Linden!" The old man stopped and laid his hand on his shoulder. "Gertrude is not like that, you may take my word for it. She would not go away from the little grave out there--not now. She has her faults too, but--it is all right with her _here_," striking his breast. "Heaven grant she may be truly happy with you in the old nest. She has earned it by her sad youth--through her father."
Frank nodded. He knew it all very well, just as the old egotist told it to him.
"Well, now we must go," continued Uncle Henry; "my sister-in-law wants to speak to me about the wedding, I suppose."
"I think it is about the marriage contract," said Frank Linden, "and I want to beg you to urge upon Gertrude to yield to her mother's wishes--I shall like it better."
"Hm!" said the old man, clearing his throat. "I yield, thou yieldest, he yields, she--will _not_ yield! She is a perverse little monkey--pardon. But it is no use mincing matters. She takes it from her father. He was a splendid man of business, but as soon as his feelings were concerned, away with prudence, wisdom, calculation, and what not. Oh, ta, ta! But here we are."
Mrs. Baumhagen received them very quietly, Gertrude was not with her.
"She is in her room," she said to Linden, as he looked round for her. "She expects you."
He found her in the deep window. There was no lamp in the room, and the light from the fire played on the carpet, "Gertrude," he said, "how can I thank you!" And he took her hands, which burned in his like fire.