ized with the luxurious environment.
The married ladies attracted the eye by their elegant toilettes and
rich jewels, the young girls--among whom were several of bewitching
beauty and freshness--in simpler costumes, with flowers in their hair,
by their natural charms. Even among the monotonous black dress coats
of the men, an eye which took pleasure in colour found some degree of
satisfaction in the gay uniforms of several Bavarian and Russian
officers.

The hostess, still a pretty woman, with her wealth of fair hair and her
clear complexion, over whose delicate transparency the years had passed
with scarcely a trace, had at her right an elderly general with
numerous orders, who, being a great eater and a very poor
conversationalist, feasted his eyes alternately on his plate and on the
pretty faces, whispering to his neighbour remarks about the viands and
the feminine guests, whose artless simplicity--they consisted chiefly
of a noun and a laudatory adjective--showed a profoundly satisfied and
comfortable mood. At her left sat a highly esteemed friend of the
family, Dr. Bergmann, a young physician, a tutor in the Wurzburg
university, who, during the past three years had twice had the
opportunity of saving Frau von Jagersfeld and her eldest daughter, in
cases of severe illness, from threatening death, and to whom the whole
family therefore felt unbounded gratitude. Bergmann was a handsome
man, still under thirty, whose grave manner made him appear somewhat
older. A thoughtful brow, an absolutely straight nose, large grey
eyes, which on first meeting them looked cold and penetrating, lips
somewhat large, yet well modelled, dark beard, and a luxuriant head of
hair which was permitted to wave, stand up, or lie flat at will, were
the individual features which collectively formed a remarkably
interesting head. His manner showed a peculiar mingling of modesty,
nay, timidity, and vigorous self-reliance. It was evident that he was
unaccustomed to the drawing-room and large companies, and felt at ease
only beside a sick-bed. He was rather awkward in aimless chatter, but,
on the other hand, firm and clear in professional conversation. A mere
boy in the presence of a talkative, pretty girl, but a hero and a
conqueror when with a suffering, anxious human being, beseeching his
aid. His left-hand neighbour, the wife of a Frankfort banker, who
chatted rapidly about the architecture of the dining-hall and the
Wagner performanc