He could only have been in the city three or four
days at most, and well must he have spent his time."
She threw herself back in an easy chair, worn out and anxious as well as
angry, while the head forester walked up and down the room angrier than
ever now.
"And that's not the worst of it," he cried. "The worst is the game which
the rascal has been playing with me and my poor daughter since he came
here. My poor child has been running to Waldhofen day after day to give
what comfort and aid she could, and Willibald has always accompanied her
to comfort Marietta too--oh, its atrocious! Your model son has turned
out well, I must say, Regine."
"Perhaps you think I intend to shield him!" Regine answered spitefully.
"He shall stand before me, shall stand before us both, and speak. That's
what I have come for. He shall learn to know me!"
She rose as though ready now for the attack, and her hearer, who was
muttering angrily to himself, said aloud:
"He shall learn to know us both!"
Just then, in the middle of their excitement, the door opened, and the
poor, ill-treated fiance, Antonie von Schoenau entered the room quiet and
composed as ever, and said as she went toward her aunt:
"I heard from the servants of your unexpected arrival, dear aunt--I am
so glad to see you.
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