When they went to the drawing-room she left Johann Leopold, and, approaching Otto, said, "Pray suggest some folly to me,—I am dying of ennui."
"'Ah! fly with me, and be my love,'"
he began to sing in an undertone, and his eyes expressed the passion which was suppressed in his half-teasing voice. Magelone shrugged her shoulders.
"Nonsense! even the poet himself called that tragedy," she replied. "I want something merry to do. But you are afflicted with the Dönninghausen stupidity."
"How unjust!" cried Otto. "Was it not a merry thing to whisk you away from Klausenburg—right from under Johann Leopold's long nose—into the sleigh with me, and drive off with you?"
Magelone laughed. Otto continued passionately: "I should have liked to carry you off to the end of the world. The thought of seeing you in Johann Leopold's arms makes me frantic. Why do you look at me so disdainfully, and what does that smile mean?"
"Perhaps it means what did you whisper to Johanna at table with just the same look you wear at present?"
"I thought I was to obey orders and pay court to her," said Otto. "Do you command the contrary?"
"Indeed I do not."
"It really would be better to continue the farce," Otto went on in a graver tone. "Johann Leopold's jealousy is evident; it would be better to lead him upon a false scent——"