"No; I had some work to do. That sometimes will happen."
"Sometimes! It has come to be the rule with you. I believe you hardly sleep at all."
"Not much, it is true, but there is no help for it. Every structure must be finished before the winter sets in. Of course that makes a deal of work, and as engineer-in-chief I must see to it all."
"You are overworking yourself perilously. Hardly any other man could do as you are doing, and you cannot go on thus for long. How often I have told you----"
"The same old story," Wolfgang interrupted him, impatiently. "Let me alone, Benno; there is no help for it."
The doctor had, unfortunately, learned from experience that all his admonitions on this point would avail nothing, and he shook his head anxiously as he escorted his friend to the carriage. He himself was unwearied in the performance of his duties, but he knew nothing of the feverish state of mind that seeks forgetfulness in labour at whatever cost.
In the hall they met Veit Gronau, who had come with Waltenberg from Heilborn, and had taken the opportunity to pay a visit to Oberstein. The gentlemen bade each other good-day, and then Elmhorst got into his carriage, while the two others returned to the study.
"The Herr Engineer-in-Chief was in a great hurry," said Gronau, settling himself in the leathern arm-chair, the leg of which had, fortunately, been mended. "He scarcely took time to speak to me, and he looks very little like a happy lover. He's always as pale and gloomy as the marble guest! And yet he surely has reason to be contented with his lot."
"Yes, I am anxious about Wolf," Benno declared. "He is not at all like himself, and I am afraid the post he so coveted will be his bane. Even his iron, constitution cannot stand the strain of feverish activity which fills his days and nights. He oversees the entire extent of railway, and he never gives himself an instant's rest, in spite of all I can say."
"Yes, he is everywhere except with his betrothed," Gronau remarked, drily. "The lady seems to be of a remarkably unexacting temperament, else she could hardly endure having her lover entirely given over to locomotives, and tunnels, and bridges, or to have him declare as soon as he appears that he has not a moment to stay. But she takes it all as quite a matter of course. 'Tis an odd household, that of the Nordheim villa. With two pair of lovers, one would suppose all would go as merrily as a marriage-bell, but instead of that they all seem rather uncomfortable, not excepting Herr Waltenberg. Said and Djelma are always complaining to me of his temper. I explained to them that it was all because he was thinking of marrying; that matrimony was sure to make mischief; but the rogues persist in thinking it very fine."