"I am glad of that. I have not seen him since he was sent to your capitol, but I have always said that Herbert was the pride of our family, whom one could parade anywhere. He is now Prussian Ambassador to His Excellency at your court."
"And a young husband of fifty-six years, besides," said Herr von Schonan scornfully.
"Yes, he took his time to marry, but then he has made a splendid match for all that. It was surely no little thing for a man of his years to win a wife like Adelaide, young, beautiful, rich----"
"And of burgher descent," interrupted Schonan.
"Nonsense! Who asks nowadays after a pedigree when a million is involved. Herbert can make use of it. He has had to get along with small means all of his life, and the position of ambassador will require more display than the salary will admit of. And my brother does not need to be ashamed of his father-in-law, for Stahlberg is one of our first industry men and a man of honor from tip to toe, besides. It was a pity that he died after the marriage of his daughter, for she has surely made a sensible choice."
"Pouf! You call it a sensible choice when a girl of eighteen takes a husband who could be her father?" cried the Chief, drawing near in the heat of the controversy. "Of course when one becomes a baroness and the wife of the Prussian Ambassador, one plays a big rôle in society. This beautiful, cool Adelaide, with her 'sensible' ideas which would do credit to a grandmother, is not congenial to me at all. A sensible girl who falls heels over head in love and declares to her parents, 'This one or none at all,' is much more to my taste."
"Well, these are beautiful ideas for a father!" cried Frau von Eschenhagen indignantly. "It is exceedingly fortunate that Toni has taken after my sister and not after you, for otherwise you might live to see the like in her. Stahlberg raised his daughter better. I know from himself that she obeyed his wish when she gave her hand to Herbert, and so, of course, it is all right and as it should be. But you do not understand anything about educating children."
"What! I, a man and a father, not understand the bringing up of children?" shouted Schonan, cherry-red with vexation.
The two were in the best possible condition to fly at each other again, but fortunately they were interrupted this time, for a young girl, the daughter of the house, stepped out on the terrace.
Antonie von Schonan could not be called exactly pretty, but she had a stately figure like her father and a fresh, blooming face, with light brown eyes. Her brown hair was folded in simple plaits around her head and her dress, although suitable to her position, was also plain. But Antonie was in those years when youth displaced every other charm, and as she drew near, fresh, healthy, stately in her whole appearance, she was exactly the daughter-in-law after Frau von Eschenhagen's own heart, and she nodded in a friendly way to her.