After happily saving Fräulein von Werben from the danger of being caught by the Princess talking confidentially with a merchant-captain, Reinhold had returned through the gallery and second room to the clock-room, in the assured hope of finding his cousin still there. But in vain did he turn his sharp eyes in all directions, plunging boldly over the long trains of the ladies, if he saw a brown velvet dress in the far distance.
After all she could not be far off, and in fact it was more that she had left him in the lurch than that he had left her. But still his uneasiness did not decrease when he got to the skylight-room without finding her. He stood still, doubting whether he should go on or return, when a hand, encased in a yellow kid glove, touched his shoulder.
"At last I have found you!"
"Philip!" exclaimed Reinhold, turning round and giving his hand to his cousin.
"Where is Ferdinanda?"
Reinhold explained his mishap.
"Then we will look for her together," said Philip. "I have just come out of the middle room, and she was not there; perhaps she is in one of the last rooms."
He linked his arm in Reinhold's with the familiarity of a cousin and intimate friend. Reinhold was agreeably touched, and a little ashamed that in the quarrel between father and son he was conscious of having already taken the side of the former.
"I really am pleased to see you," said he.
"I don't doubt the reality," answered Philip, laughing, "and only hope the pleasure will last; at any rate, at least fifty per cent. of the happiness falls to my share. It is always a good thing to know that the old man has got a sensible fellow to talk to; and he has always thought very highly of you--probably only to irritate me; but I don't mind that."