MAX.
You yourself have spoken of it, I am told. You met her with my friend Heydebrand when he was at the military academy.
VON KELLER.
Yes, yes, it's true.
MAX.
It was wrong of me not to ask you about her openly, but you will probably understand my reticence. I feel almost as if I belonged to this family and I feared to learn something which might disgrace it.
VON KELLER.
Oh, not at all, not in the least. It was like this. When I was in Berlin for the State Examinations, I saw one day on Leipsic Street a familiar face,--a home face, if I may say so. You know what that is when one is far away. Well, we spoke to each other. I learned that she was studying to sing in opera, and that for this purpose she had left her home.
MAX.
Not exactly. She left home to be companion to an old lady. [Hesitates.] There was a difference with her father.