Mr. Dannevig. He is a knight of Dannebrog, and moreover,
as he tells me, an intimate friend of yours."

"Tell him, then, Fraulein, that he might have presumed sufficiently
upon our friendship to prefer his request in person, instead of
sending you as his messenger."

The color sprang to her cheeks; she swept abruptly around, and with an
air of outraged majesty, marched defiantly down the hall.

The night wore on. The hour for supper came, and politeness forced me
to go and find Miss Pfeifer. Then we sat down in a corner, and ate and
chattered in a heedless, dispirited fashion, dwelling with feigned
interest on trifling themes, and as by a tacit agreement avoiding each
other's glances. Then some gentleman came to claim her, and I was
almost glad that she was gone. And yet, in the very next moment a
passionate regret came over me, as for a personal loss, and I would
fain have called her back and told her, with friendly directness my
reasons for interfering so rudely with her pleasure.

I do not know how long I sat thus idly nursing my discontent, and now
and then, as my anger blazed up, muttering some fierce execration
against Dannevig. What was this girl to me, after all? I was certainly
not in love with her. And if she chose to ruin herself, what business
had I to prevent her? But then, she was a woman, and a sweet and pure
and true-hearted woman; it was, at all events, my duty to open her
eyes, and I vowed that, even though she should hate me for it, I would
tell her the truth. I looked at my watch; it was a few minutes past
two. With a sting of self-reproach, I remembered my promise to Mr.
Pfeifer, and resolved not to shirk the responsibility I had
voluntarily assumed. I hastened up the hall, then down again, surveyed
the dancers, sent a girl into the dressing-room with a message; but
Fraulein Hildegard was nowhere to be seen. A horrible thought flashed
through me. I seized my hat, and rushed down into the restaurant.
There, in an inner apartment, divided from the public room by drooping
curtains, I found her, laughing and chatting gayly with Dannevig over
a glass of Champagne and a dish of ice-cream.

"Fraulein," I said, approaching her with grave politeness, "I am sorry
to be obliged to interrupt this agreeable _tete-a-tete_. But the
carriage has arrived, and I must claim the pleasure of your company."

"Now, really," she exclaimed, with impulsive regret, while her eyes
still hung with a fascinated gaze on Dan