The man thus addressed looked up with a smile, disclosing a handsome, expressive countenance of a forcible manly type. His thick, fair moustache became him well, concealing somewhat as it did the rather hard outline of the mouth and thus softening a certain sternness of expression which had characterized his face while absorbed in his newspaper, but which vanished entirely as he smiled. The mild lustre of large dark eyes made the handsome face still more attractive.
"You're an awful bore to-day, Leo," the younger man continued; "we've been sitting here full half an hour, and you have hardly opened your lips. I cannot imagine what you find to read in that wretched 'Daily Post;' it makes me yawn only to look at it; nothing would induce me to read a line of it; 'tis full of such stupid stuff in these tiresome times of peace."
"You're mistaken; the proceedings in Chambers are extremely interesting to-day."
"The proceedings in Chambers!" the other cried, with comical dismay. "Good heavens, the fellow is reading politics! Leo, Leo, as your true friend, I must warn you: you are in perilous paths; read everything else that you choose,--the trashiest novels, and even poems if you insist upon it, but no politics; you will lose caste. Already you are looked upon askance as a genius, more than half an artist; if it should be whispered about that you are a politician you are ruined, Leo. An officer with an interest in politics is a lost man; if my warning voice has any influence Leo von Heydeck shall never fall so low. Throw the paper away, my dear fellow, and be a man; let us follow the example of our comrades the dragoons, Herr von Bertram and Count Waldheim, and criticise the lovely ladies driving past; this is just the time for it. Look! there comes the fairest of the fair, the richest of the rich, the loveliest of the lovely, divine Eva Schommer!"
Leo von Heydeck suddenly dropped his newspaper and glanced in the direction indicated by his friend, but on the instant his face darkened; he hastily looked around him to observe the effect produced upon the group of officers beneath the awning by the approach of the celebrated beauty, and then quietly took up his paper again and seemed to become more than ever absorbed in it. He did not even look up as the barouche in which the object of so much admiration sat rolled past.
He was, however, the only one upon the veranda who accorded no notice to the fair occupant of the barouche; every officer present gazed after her with the greatest interest, and some few, who had enjoyed the happy privilege of an introduction, saluted her with distinguished courtesy. Among these fortunate individuals were the two dragoons, Herr von Bertram and Count Waldheim; as soon as they were aware of the approach of the equipage each started up from his negligent attitude and standing close behind the balustrade bowed low as if to some princess. Certainly no princess could have acknowledged their salute with a slighter or haughtier inclination of the head than that with which it was received in this instance.
Carelessly leaning back among the satin cushions of the elegant barouche of which she was the sole occupant, Fräulein Eva Schommer seemed to receive the homage offered her but as a fitting tribute to her beauty; no smile played about her pensive mouth as she thus slightly bowed, and her large dark eyes scarcely deigned to rest for an instant upon the two dragoons. Suddenly her cheek flushed a little, and a degree of animation lit up her face for an instant as she shot one fleeting glance at the figure sitting absorbed in the newspaper and not even looking up as her barouche drove past. The next minute she turned away her head and replied most courteously to the passing salutation of a rider, who cantered on a blood horse past her equipage.
Like an apparition the barouche drawn by its pair of thoroughbreds flashed past Büchner's awning and was soon lost to sight as it turned almost immediately into a cross street. With it the degree of excitement which its approach had produced also vanished; the two dragoons took their seats again, put their feet up upon the rail of the balustrade, and balanced themselves after their old elegant fashion.
The younger infantry officer, who had also sprung from his seat and bowed to the lady most courteously without however receiving any acknowledgment in return, now resumed his seat, and regarded his friend still zealously perusing the newspaper with immense astonishment. "This is too much, Leo!" he exclaimed. "There you sit and never even look up as she drives past; have you a heart of stone? You were the only one whom she looked at; the only one of us to whom she deigned a glance, and you pore over your politics all the while as if you meditated mounting the rostrum yourself. 'Pon honour, Leo, she did bestow a look upon you which would have driven many a fellow who had chanced to get it wild."
"You must have been mistaken, Kuno," Leo replied, indifferently, although his friend's words did not seem quite devoid of interest for him, for he folded his paper and laid it aside; perhaps he had entirely finished his perusal of the most interesting proceedings in Chambers.