elt for the person on whom
one's beauty depends, for he was a true artist, and really did work
amazing transformations. "What! You have never had Herr Jungbluth?"
Trudi cried, on the last occasion on which she met Bibi, the daughter of
a Hanover banker, and quite outside her set but for the riches that
ensured her an enthusiastic welcome wherever she went, "_aber_ Bibi!"
There was so much genuine surprise and compassion in this "_aber_ Bibi"
that the young person addressed felt as though she had been for years
missing a possibility of happiness. Trudi added, as a special
recommendation, that Jungbluth smelt of soap. He had carefully studied
the nature of women, and if he had to do with a pretty one would find an
early opportunity of going into respectful raptures over what he
described as her _klassisches Profil_; and if it was a woman whose face
was not all she could have wished, he would tell her, in a tone of
subdued enthusiasm, that her profile, as to which she had long been in
doubt, was _hoechst interessant_. The popularity of this young man in
Trudi's set was enormous; and as all the less aristocratic Hanoverian
ladies hastened to imitate, Jungbluth lived in great contentment and
prosperity with a young wife whose hair was reposefully straight, and a
baby whose godmother was Trudi.

"Blue woods! Anemones!" read Trudi with immense contempt. "Is the boy in
his senses? The idea of expecting me to go to that dreary place now. Ah,
now I understand," she added, turning the page, "it is Bibi--he is
really after her, and of course can get along quicker if I am there to
help. Excellent Axel! And why did he go to the pains of trotting out the
anemones? What is the use of not being frank with me? I can see through
him, whatever he does. He is so good-natured that I am sure he will lend
us heaps of Bibi's money once he has got it. _So, lieber Jungbluth_,"
she said aloud, "that will do to-day. Beautiful--beautiful--better than
ever. I am in a hurry. I travel to Berlin this very afternoon."

And the next day she arrived at Stralsund, and was met by her brother at
the station.

She greeted him with enthusiasm. "As we are here," she said, when they
were driving through the town, "let us pay our respects to the
Regierungspraesidentin. It will save our coming in again to-morrow."

"No, I cannot to-day. I must get back as quickly as possible. The hands
had their Easter ball yesterday, and when I left Lohm this morning half
of t