"Then certainly you have had no time to inquire for us and to claim your compass. Am I not honesty itself?"
"What use would it be to you?"
"Who can tell? You told me I had a great talent for navigation. But let us get out of this crowd and look for my brother, whom I have just lost. Are you alone?"
"I am with my cousin."
"Then you must introduce me to her. I saw her 'Shepherd Boy' downstairs; it is charming! I have only just heard from my brother that it is your cousin who is the sculptor, and that we are neighbours, and all about it. Where is she?"
"I have been looking for her in vain."
"Now, that is delightful! Two lost children in a forest of people--I am dreadfully frightened!"
She was not a bit frightened, Reinhold could see that. She was in her own world, and was as much at home in it as he was at sea. How cleverly and gracefully she slipped past two ladies who would not make way for her! How carelessly she nodded to the enormously tall officer who made his bow to her from the farthest corner of the room over the heads of several hundred people! How will she manage to talk to Reinhold over her shoulder when he was near, as he followed her with difficulty into the small, narrow passage where the prints and water-colours were hung.
"I saw my brother go in here," said she. "There--no, that is Herr von Saldern. Never mind, we shall find him presently--and your cousin?"
"She is not here either."