Hildegarde had drawn herself up into a sitting position. The last two months had brought a marked change for the better in her health, and with a revival of the old strength had come a revival of the old pride and sensitiveness. She hated a stranger to see, and perhaps pity, her infirmity, and, moreover, on this occasion she was conscious of an inexplicable restlessness.
There was, at all events, nothing alarming in the stranger's appearance. A tall, carefully dressed man, with a thin sunken face, and a manner suggesting at once breeding and embarrassment, stood in the doorway, evidently uncertain as to his own course of conduct. As the silence threatened to grow awkward, Frau von Arnim took the initiative.
"From your card, and from what my servant tells me, I judge that you are English, Captain Arnold," she said, motioning him to be seated.
The visitor's face immediately lightened, and he advanced into the room, without, however, making further use of her invitation.
"I should be most thankful," he said. "If my German had not been of such a negligible quality I should not have had to trouble you. Indeed, until I heard you speak I feared my difficulties were by no means at an end. I hope you will excuse my intrusion?"
His sentences, like his manner, were somewhat wooden, and not calculated to inspire any particular warmth in his hearers. Having briefly introduced him to Hildegarde, Frau von Arnim repeated her invitation, which he now accepted, though with reluctance.
"I shall be glad to be of any service to you," Frau von Arnim said graciously. "English people are bound to me by at least one tie, and it is always a pleasure when I can assist any one of them. You need not apologise therefore."
Arnold smiled, and his expression suggested that he accepted her words as a formal politeness, and valued them as such.
"You are very kind," he said. "At the same time I trust that I need not trespass too much on your good-nature. I must explain that I have just returned from Africa, and Karlsburg lying on overland route, I stopped in the hope that Miss Ingestre were still staying here. Your servant, however, did not understand my German, or did not recognise the name——"
"The latter is certain," Frau von Arnim interrupted calmly. "The girl was not here when Miss Ingestre lived with us."