‘Will you go with me to-morrow?’ asked Greif, relinquishing the contest.
‘You had better go alone, and I shall be best here, with my books. You will not need me to help you to settle matters.’
‘Why do you so rarely go with me?’
‘Why should I?’
‘To keep me company. It is a long drive.’
‘The entertainment, so far as I am concerned, is not of a wildly exciting character, when you are talking to Fraulein von Sigmundskron, and her mother is doing needlework, and I am thrown upon my own resources. Whereas if I stay at home and read, I have the pleasure of hearing your very good description of all that I should have been entitled to see and hear had I been present myself. The description occupies five minutes; the expedition takes a whole day. I will stay at home, thank you.’
‘But it gives them pleasure to see you,’ objected Greif.
‘Does your cousin regret my absence from the sitting-room when she is walking with you upon the sunny side of the ramparts?’
‘How did you know that we walked there?’ asked Greif with a laugh.
‘On the same principle which teaches me that a dog will walk on the sunny side of the street—because you would not be likely to walk in the shade at this time of year. Did you say that Fraulein von Sigmundskron regretted my absence on such occasions?’