Nannerl soon appeared with the wine, which she placed upon the table, carefully avoiding, as she did so, any contact with the man whose coarse familiarity she dreaded.
While she was thus setting out the wine Hansel entered the room, and observing her annoyance, said angrily, "Let Nannerl alone, Herr Doctor; your old head ought to teach you better than to tease a poor girl."
The doctor was not at all offended by the rough rebuke, but with a laugh, offered a glass of wine to the postmaster. "That's right. Hansel," he said. "Keep strict watch over your maid's virtue. Take a sip to cool your anger, and then we'll have a gossip. Fine doings here. Hansel! Two four-horse carriages have not been seen together for many a year in Tausens; and a couple of strangers into the bargain. I have just left one of them, who has sprained his ankle."
"I know it. Herr Delmar asked me where you lived."
"Exactly; Herr Delmar came for me. Do you know Herr Delmar? where he comes from? who he is?"
"No, I don't, but I know his face, although I can't remember where I have seen it."
"Do you remember Count Menotti, Hansel?"
Scarcely had the doctor uttered this name when Hansel struck the table with his fist and exclaimed, "That's the man! The Count Menotti! Yes, yes; just so he looked with his black eyes and yellow face! Now I see! He may call himself Delmar if he will; he's a Count Menotti for all that. That's why he wanted me to tell him all those old stories,--about Herr von Heydeck, and his first wife, and Count Menotti, and the child that died of smallpox."
The doctor suddenly started from his reclining posture and frowned furiously at the postmaster. "And you told him all that, you cursed old blab!" he exclaimed angrily.
"It's no secret. Herr Delmar may as well know what everybody else knows," Hansel replied stoutly.