perhaps even before
you do."

"For aught I care. Do you think I shall wait for that? The idea!
Furthermore one has already been picked out for me and perhaps I shall
soon have him. Oh, I am not worrying about that. Not long ago little
Ventivegni from over the way said to me: 'Miss Effi, what will you bet
we shall not have a charivari and a wedding here this year yet?'"

"And what did you say to that?"

"Quite possible, I said, quite possible; Hulda is the oldest; she may
be married any day. But he refused to listen to that and said: 'No, I
mean at the home of another young lady who is just as decided a
brunette as Miss Hulda is a blonde.' As he said this he looked at me
quite seriously--But I am wandering and am forgetting the story."

"Yes, you keep dropping it all the while; may be you don't want to
tell it, after all?"

"Oh, I want to, but I have interrupted the story a good many times,
chiefly because it is a little bit strange, indeed, almost romantic."

"Why, you said he was a district councillor."

"Certainly, a district councillor, and his name is Geert von
Innstetten, Baron von Innstetten."

All three laughed.

"Why do you laugh?" said Effi, nettled. "What does this mean?"

"Ah, Effi, we don't mean to offend you, nor the Baron either.
Innstetten did you say? And Geert? Why, there is nobody by that name
about here. And then you know the names of noblemen are often a bit
comical."

"Yes, my dear, they are. But people do not belong to the nobility for
nothing. They can endure such things, and the farther back their
nobility goes, I mean in point of time, the better they are able to
endure them. But you don't know anything about this and you must not
take offense at me for saying so. We shall continue to be good friends
just the same. So it is Geert von Innstetten and he is a Baron. He is
just as old as mama, to the day."

"And how old, pray, is your mama?"

"Thirty-eight."

"A fine age."

"Indeed it is, especially when one still looks as well as mama. I
consider her truly a beautiful woman, don't you, too? And how
accomplished she is in everything, always so sure and at the same time
so ladylike, and never unconventional, like papa. If I were a young
lieutenant I should fall in love with mama."

"Oh, Effi, how can you ever say such a thing?" said Hulda. "Why, that
is contrary to the fourth commandment."

"Nonsense. How can it be? I think it would please mama if she knew I
said such a thing.