use to succumb, was little less than
an insult. There lay a charm, too, in the thought that he would force
this lovely creature into conversation with him, notwithstanding her
reserve.

"Are you pleased with Fuerstenstein?" he asked. "I have never been near
the castle, and have only seen it in the distance, but it seems to
overawe the whole region with its magnificence. A singular taste indeed
to find anything lovely in this landscape, and erect a palace here."

"Evidently not your taste, at least."

"I am not specially fond of uniformity, and here there is nothing but
sameness. Woods and woods, and nothing but woods--at times one is almost
driven to despair."

There was a hidden rancour in these words, as if the poor German forest,
with its whispers and its winds was to blame for all the bitterness
which lay in the soul of this returned wanderer; it almost seemed as if
he must flee from them, for he could hardly endure the simple, earnest
song of olden times which fluttered down to him from the tall fir trees.
But his companion only heard the slighting tone.

"Are you a foreigner, Herr Rojanow?" she asked.

A black shadow crossed Hartmut's brow, and he hesitated for a moment
before he answered, coldly:

"Yes, Fraeulein."

"I thought as much from your name and appearance, and from the peculiar
opinions which you express, as well."

"At any rate, they are unbiased and candid," answered Hartmut, nettled
by the reproof which lay in the last words. "I have been pretty much all
over the world, and am just back now from the Orient. To him who knows
the ocean with its radiant, transparent blue, or its terrible, deadly
storms, to one who has basked in the witcheries of the warmth and light
of the tropics, everything here seems cold and colorless; these eternal
green forests are, in fact, the only features of a German landscape."

The compassionate shrug of the shoulders with which he concluded,
appeared to rouse his companion from her imperturbability. An expression
of displeasure crossed her face, and her voice had in it a tone of
resentment, as she answered:

"That is altogether a matter of taste. I know, if not the Orient, at
least Southern Europe very well; those sunny, glowing landscapes, with
their vivid colorings attract one in the beginning--that is true
enough--but soon, too soon, exhaust one. You lose all strength and
vitality; you can stagnate and dream, but you can never live and work.
But why discuss