The experienced diplomat did
not disguise from himself the fact that the duke would complain, and
with reason, that all this exposure should have been made on the first
day of the stranger's appearance rather than at this inopportune time.
There remained nothing for it but to be silent and await developments.
Wallmoden had no thought of the danger which had threatened himself. He
had not seen fit to tell his wife anything concerning his old friend
Falkenried's history, and decided now that she had better know nothing
more about Prince Adelsberg's friend than was known by their associates.
No conversation concerning Hartmut had ever passed between them save the
one fleeting question and his wife's monosyllabic answer.
But he felt he dare keep silence no longer toward his nephew Willibald,
for there would be a similar scene to that enacted by the mother at
Hochberg if the son was surprised by the sight of his boyhood's friend.
The young heir had accompanied the Wallmodens to the southern capital,
where he intended remaining a few days, when he was going on to
Fuerstenstein to see his betrothed, for the head forester had expressly
requested that the September visit, which was so suddenly interrupted,
should be finished later in the season.
"You were only with us a week," he wrote to his sister-in-law, "and I
desire to see something more of my future son-in-law.
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