"Have you heard that your superintendent Frank is about to purchase an estate?" she asked at length. "His situation here must have been very lucrative, for, so far as I know, he was without property when he came."
"He has had a large income for the past twenty years," said Waldemar, without raising his eyes from the album, "and he must have saved fully half of it."
"And he has, no doubt, made good use of his opportunities. Have you chosen his successor?"
"No."
"One of your tenants, the man who rents the Janowo estate, has become financially embarrassed, not through any fault of his own, and is obliged to return to a salaried position. I believe him especially fitted for Villica."
"I do not think so," replied Waldemar, very deliberately. "His management has been inexcusably bad, and he has brought on his own ruin."
The princess bit her lip. "Who told you this?" she asked, at length. "The superintendent, most likely."
Waldemar made no reply, and his mother went on in an irritated tone:
"I have no desire to influence you in the selection of your subordinates, but for your own interest I warn you not to give full credence to Frank's calumnies. He does not want this man for a successor, and he is intriguing against him."
"That can hardly be," returned Waldemar, coldly; "he knows that I have decided to dispense with a superintendent, and take the management of my estates into my own hands."