"Yes, you may ask, and it is my duty to answer, because it is to you also that I have so often and so conceitedly displayed my superhuman wisdom. I must confess to you, and in especial to Leo, the terrible grief to which I am come with my boasted knowledge of human nature. I deserve to have my ears boxed,--if there were only some one to do it for me.
"You make me curious."
"You have often heard me speak of Fräulein Schommer; do you remember what opinion of her I expressed?"
"Not a very flattering one."
"It was brutal, thick-headed, idiotic! I called her purse-proud, vain, arrogant, cold, heartless, and I have no doubt I used a great many more adjectives equally stupid. It is not sufficient that I inwardly confess and regret the wrong I have done her. I must apologize to you and to Leo, with whom I have often spoken of her. She is a charming and lovely girl, noble in disposition, and of great sensibility,--incapable of an unworthy thought. Faults she may have,--I cannot say,--but pride of purse is not among them, that I'll swear to."
Kuno laughed. "Take care, take care!" he said. "You seem to me to have been gazing too deeply into the lovely Eva's dreamy dark eyes. I have never heard you speak of a girl thus. Keep fast hold of your heart or you will lose it here on the balcony."
"Do you think so?" Paul asked mockingly. "Your wisdom is profound, noble knight, almost as profound as my own. One cannot lose what one does not possess; my admiration for the fair Eva has nothing to do with my heart. I should hardly have spoken of her so frankly to you had I been in love with her; reassure yourself on that score. I am only filled with remorse for having so misjudged her, and perhaps thereby strengthened others--our Leo for example--in their false estimate of her. Do you know what I have been pondering for the last half-hour?"
"How should I?"
"I will tell you; I have been dreaming of a happy future for our friend. It is particularly stupid to indulge in waking dreams, but it is a habit of mine, and I cannot get rid of it. I saw Leo with a charming young wife,--saw him wealthy and happy, valued by every one as a true artist and scholar, and beloved as a friend by all who stand in need of aid or counsel. I saw him thus, and his lovely young wife gave me a bewitching glance from her dreamy dark eyes, and smiled the gentle, kindly smile which I saw to-day for the first time. It was a dream, Herwarth, but a delightful dream, and I wish I could make it a reality. Leo and Eva! What a charming couple they would make!"
"You forget that Fräulein Schommer is betrothed."