"
"Should I have falsified?"
"No, but it was a well known fact--"
"Of which I am proud, as was my father before me."
"You are no longer Adelheid Stahlberg, but the Baroness Wallmoden"--the
baron's voice had assumed a sudden sharpness. "And you, yourself, will
be forced to admit that when a woman has married into a family of the
old nobility, it is hardly fitting for her to sneer at the nobles."
The young wife's lips were drawn in with a bitter expression. Although
she had been speaking in a subdued tone, she dropped her voice still
lower, as she said now: "Have you forgotten, Herbert, why I gave you my
hand?"
"Perhaps you have had cause to regret it?" he said, questioning instead
of answering.
"No," said Adelheid with a deep breath.
"I thought you were perfectly contented with the position to which you
had attained by marrying me. As for the rest you know I exercised no
control over you. I left it to your own free will."
His wife was silent, but the bitter expression was yet on her lips.
Wallmoden rose and offered her his arm.
"You must permit me, my child, to help you at times, for you are
inexperienced," he said in his wonted polite tone. "I have had every
reason to be contented with your tact and discretion, but to-day I
thought it necessary to give you a hint.
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