"I should be most thankful," he said. "If my German had not been of such a negligible quality I should not have had to trouble you. Indeed, until I heard you speak I feared my difficulties were by no means at an end. I hope you will excuse my intrusion?"
His sentences, like his manner, were somewhat wooden, and not calculated to inspire any particular warmth in his hearers. Having briefly introduced him to Hildegarde, Frau von Arnim repeated her invitation, which he now accepted, though with reluctance.
"I shall be glad to be of any service to you," Frau von Arnim said graciously. "English people are bound to me by at least one tie, and it is always a pleasure when I can assist any one of them. You need not apologise therefore."
Arnold smiled, and his expression suggested that he accepted her words as a formal politeness, and valued them as such.
"You are very kind," he said. "At the same time I trust that I need not trespass too much on your good-nature. I must explain that I have just returned from Africa, and Karlsburg lying on overland route, I stopped in the hope that Miss Ingestre were still staying here. Your servant, however, did not understand my German, or did not recognise the name——"
"The latter is certain," Frau von Arnim interrupted calmly. "The girl was not here when Miss Ingestre lived with us."
Captain Arnold rose abruptly. It was evident that his mission was at an end.
"In that case I do not need to trouble you further," he said. "I came on a mere supposition. Had I not travelled so quickly I should no doubt have heard from Miss Ingestre herself, but I have been on the road night and day, missing, apparently, every mail, and getting a good start on my own letters. I shall now have to hurry on to England as fast as possible."
"If you wish to meet Frau von Arnim your journey will be in vain," Hildegarde said. "She is at present in Berlin."
Arnold turned, and for the first time looked steadily at the speaker. It was evident that the words had had no meaning for him, but there was a curious, apparently causeless animosity and distrust in her steady eyes which arrested his attention and aroused in him emotions of a like nature. It was as though unconsciously they had hated each other before all time, and that the hatred had now become a definite recognisable quality.