"Why?"
"Because by taking such a step she would lose all right to the estate, which would then fall immediately to Fräulein von Werben and her brother, provided they had not imitated the folly of their aunt in marrying below their rank. Then no one would have any of it except various benevolent institutions."
"I have, as you may imagine, heard all possible and impossible things of that wonderful will. Can you and will you satisfy my curiosity, which now hardly deserves that name?"
"Willingly," said the Councillor. "The slight indiscretion which I shall commit in so doing I will put down to my credit in our accounts; but where shall I begin?"
"At the beginning," said the Count. "I know a great deal--I know very little--I know nothing. You see I am already practising the jargon with some facility. Shall I send for another bottle?"
"Thanks, thanks. I have still another visit before me; but you are right, you must know all now, and I will endeavour to be as brief as possible."
He put his watch which he had just taken out back into his pocket; the Count leaned back in his chair, and began to rock himself, while the Councillor scribbled on a bit of paper, and was silent for a few moments, as if to collect his thoughts.
"You must not expect a private history from me; I could not tell it to you even if I wished, as in regard to the intimate relations and feelings of those concerned, I am no better informed than other people, and I never venture upon the dangerous path of guesses except in general meetings, when the shareholders are very unruly. So I must limit myself to relating the facts in chronological order. Well, you know that the Duchess of ---- is a distant relation of our royal family. Fräulein Valerie von Werben, as well as her elder sister, Sidonie, grew up here in Berlin with the Princess. When the Princess married she first took Valerie to her new court, and when the latter also married, she allowed the far less interesting and amusing Sidonie--I think out of charity--to take her place. But that is only by the way.
"Baron Warnow made Fräulein Valerie's acquaintance in ----, where--for in those days we were still courteous enough to send ambassadors even to small courts--he held that office. To see, love, and marry the handsome and clever girl, and to give up his office to be able to devote his whole life to her, was the result of a single impulse. That was in the year 1840.
"From '40 to '43 the young couple lived in Warnow--how? I should be sorry to say positively; but to judge from my knowledge of mankind, at first happily, then less happily, and at last--I infer from the disclosure made me by the Baron in '43--decidedly unhappily. The Baron and I were friends as students; from that time he honoured me with his confidence. I had repeatedly acted as his legal adviser, and so was to a certain extent entitled to receive his confidences, which however never entered into details.