"You don't think so, Verehrteste? You must do like I. Six days in the week I thank dem lieben Gott that my neighbours wash not, and the seventh I think of my sins. That way I can almost enjoy the smell. And after all, it is quite a little smell, and my sins are sometimes——" She spread out her arms to indicate an immeasurable immensity, and Nora laughed. Her visitor's good spirits were so infectious that she forgot her futile discussion with the cook, and the impenetrable stupidity of the Bursche, and began to believe that everything really was "delightful."
"I will think of your advice next time I want to grumble," she said, as they re-entered the drawing-room. "Perhaps it will help me over some bad moments."
Frau von Seleneck took her hand, and, to Nora's surprise, embraced her affectionately.
"That is why I am here," she said. "The others—the Spitzen, superior officers and wives, you know—you will have to visit first. But I thought I could help you. I am such an old soldier." She laughed again, and then became suddenly thoughtful. "Have you yet called upon the Mayos?" she asked.
"No," Nora answered abruptly.
"Then you must do so at once—they are important people, and Major von Mayo is your husband's direct superior. You know, at the beginning it is important that you should offend no one—one cannot be too particular."
"I met Frau von Mayo in Karlsburg," Nora said. "I did not like her—she was rude and ill-mannered."
Frau von Seleneck's eyes twinkled.
"She is always so," she said. "One gets accustomed."
"I do not think that I should 'get accustomed,'" Nora retorted, with heightened colour. "At any rate, I shall not call."