"Do not tease Leo with any more questions, my dear," he said. "The disagreeable scene is over; do not let us discuss it further."
"But I cannot imagine, papa, why Melcher, who never does harm to any one, should attack Leo with such fury just because he found him in his room."
"Why should we try to imagine the motives that rule the actions of an idiot?"
"But, papa, you know very well that Melcher is no idiot. He knows perfectly what to do and what not to do, and he certainly would not guard this tower-chamber, of which I never heard before, so jealously if he had not some reason for it."
"Perhaps he hoards his savings there, and is afraid of being robbed; perhaps he keeps some articles of special value to him hidden there. Who can tell what fancies he may have in his feeble brain? If he is not entirely idiotic, he is certainly not a responsible person: he has not the usual amount of intellect. It would be impossible to conceive of the workings of his small amount of mind. But indeed we have wasted too much time upon him. I do not want to hear another word about him. We have far other things to talk of with our Leo than of old Melcher, and his deserted tower-chamber with which we certainly have nothing to do."
Hilda could not gainsay so determined an expression of her father's will; she questioned Leo no further upon the forbidden topic, but listened attentively to the conversation which her father skilfully led to the subject which interested him most at the moment. Leo had to give an account of his life in K----, of his father the old colonel, and of his friends.
It was a matter of course that Delmar's name occurred frequently in his discourse.
This was what Herr von Heydeck wanted. For good reasons he was very anxious for exact intelligence concerning Paul's past life, intelligence which he could procure nowhere so easily as from Paul's most intimate friend, and to learn all possible particulars with regard to Delmar he had given the conversation its present turn.
The old man now had his features under perfect control; his face betrayed no emotion beyond a justifiable curiosity as he said, "Your friend interests me; he is very like a man, now dead, with whom I had relations at a most eventful period of my life. The memory of that time always agitates me, and therefore the sudden appearance of the young man was such a shock that I lost my self-control and transgressed the duties of hospitality. I should like to know whether the resemblance that so struck me is accidental, or whether your friend is really distantly connected with my old acquaintance."
"Delmar has no relatives; he is alone in the world."