The physician, who dropped in late upon this merry company, looked about anxiously for Robert. He was nowhere to be seen.
Thereupon he took one of the guests aside and inquired after him. Yes, he had been there, had looked about him with startled eyes, and had silently moved aside when any one wanted to shake hands with him. But after a very few minutes his disappearance had been noticed.
The physician went into the entrance-hall, and hunted among the guests' wraps for Robert's cloak. It was lying there yet.
With the freedom of an old friend of the family, he then commenced his search through the back rooms of the house, which were quiet and deserted; for the servants were busy waiting at table.
In a narrow, dark chamber, where disused furniture was piled up, he found him sitting on an overturned wooden case, brooding with his head in his hands.
"Robert, my boy, what are you doing here?" he cried out to him.
He raised his head slowly and said, "I suppose there are merry goings-on in the other part of the house?"
The physician laid his hands on his shoulders:
"I am anxious about you, my boy. Since three days you grudge a word to any of us; you are on the road to madness, if you go on like this."
"What do you want?" answered Robert, with a sigh that broke from him like a cry of anguish. "I am calm, quite calm." Then he once more rested his bushy head upon his two hands, and fell again to brooding.