"Well then, I will bring it to you this evening signed. Only not now, I cannot do it now."
Windeg shook his head and looked displeased.
"This is a very strange whim, Eugénie, and I do not understand it at all. Why cannot you make this simple stroke of your pen now in my presence? However, if you insist upon it .... I shall expect that you will give it to me this evening at tea, there will still be time to send it off."
He did not notice that his daughter breathed a sigh of relief at these words. Going up to the window, he too looked down into the street.
"Will not Conrad come to me?" asked Eugénie, after a moment's pause. "I have not seen him yet except at dinner."
"He is very likely tired after his journey, and may be taking a little rest. Oh, there you are, Conrad, we were just speaking of you."
The young Baron, who came in at this moment, must have counted on finding his sister alone, for he said with evident and not altogether pleased surprise,
"You here, sir? They told me you were having an interview with the solicitor in the library."
"It is over, as you see."
Conrad seemed to wish it had lasted a little longer. He made no answer, but went up to his sister and sat down comfortably by her side. He had only come up from the country that day at noon.