bours," he said in English. "May I talk English to you? It gives me
pleasure to do so."

"Please do," said Anna. Here was a person who might be very helpful to
her if ever she reached her wits' end; and how nice he looked, how
clean, and what a pleasant voice he had, falling so gratefully on ears
already aching with Dellwig's shouts and the parson's emphatic oratory.

He was somewhere between thirty and forty, not young at all, she
thought, having herself never got out of the habit of feeling very
young; and beyond being long and wiry, with not even a tendency to fat,
as she noticed with pleasure, there was nothing striking about him. His
top boots and his green Norfolk jacket and green felt hat with a little
feather stuck in it gave him an air of being a sportsman. It was
refreshing to come across him, if only because he did not bow. Also,
considering him from the top of the steps, she became suddenly conscious
that Dellwig and the parson neglected their persons more than was
seemly. They were both no doubt very excellent; but she did like nicely
washed men.

Herr von Lohm began to talk about Uncle Joachim, with whom he had been
very intimate. Anna came down the steps and he went a few yards with
her, leaving Dellwig standing at the door, and followed by the eyes of
Dellwig's wife, concealed behind her bedroom curtain.

"I shall be with you in one moment," called Lohm over his shoulder.

"_Gut_," said Dellwig; and he went in to tell his wife that these
English ladies were very free with gentlemen, and to bid her mark his
words that Lohm and Kleinwalde would before long be one estate.

"And us? What will become of us?" she asked, eying him anxiously.

"I too would like to know that," replied her husband. "This all comes of
leaving land away from the natural heirs." And with great energy he
proceeded to curse the memory of his late master.

Lohm's English was so good that it astonished Anna. It was stiff and
slow, but he made no mistakes at all. His manner was grave, and looking
at him more attentively she saw traces on his face of much hard work and
anxiety. He told her that his mother had been a cousin of Uncle
Joachim's wife. "So that there is a slight relationship by marriage
existing between us," he said.

"Very slight," said Anna, smiling, "faint almost beyond recognition."

"Does your niece stay with you for an indefinite period?" he asked. "I
cannot avoid knowing that this young lady is your niece," he