Frau von Baldereck was one of the main supports of the very best society, consisting as it did of the families of the county nobility, the officers, and a few of the highest officials. It was difficult to say what had given this lady her social importance, for she was neither very well connected, nor very rich, nor very elegant, nor very intellectual. Perhaps it was this absence of all marked superiority which accounted for it. She had a very large acquaintance, was rigidly conventional, valued every one according to a social standard, and, therefore, her estimate was always attended to. She had a young daughter who promised to be very like her, and she inhabited a suite of large rooms on a first floor, where for many years dramatic representations, tableaux vivants, rehearsals, etc., had been constantly held.
This influential lady was deep in consultation with her mantuamaker as to how the new dress of her daughter could be best made so as to display her faultless bust without exciting comment at the dancing-lesson, when her favorite, Fink, was announced. Dismissing a while the weighty consideration, she hurried down to give him a most gracious reception.
After a few introductory remarks upon the last evening party at which they had met, Fink began:
"I have obeyed your orders, lady patroness, and shall bring you three gentlemen."
"And who are they?"
"First, Lieutenant von Zernitz."
"A great acquisition," was the reply, for the lieutenant was considered an accomplished officer. He made neat verses, was great in the arrangement of tableaux vivants, and was said to have written a tale in some annual or other. "Herr von Zernitz is a delightful companion."
"Yes," said Fink; "but he can not bear port wine. The second is young Von Tönnchen."
"An old family," observed the mistress of the house; "but is he not a little—just a little—wild?" added she, modestly.
"By no means," said Fink; "though sometimes, perhaps, he makes other people so."