"After that pretty speech, I must hold out some reward, so that the practice may be encouraged," he said, waving the second letter in triumph. "Behold! His Excellency General von Hulson has done himself the honour to invite his future colleague, the Captain von Arnim, nebst his beautiful Gemählin and honourable brother-in-law, to a ball on the 17th of next month. Now, are you satisfied?"
"How good you are to me, dear!" She kissed him, guiltily conscious that her joy had been but a poor feigning. Now, for the first time, she realised clearly how far she had drifted from her husband's circle. She shrank from that which had once been the goal of her ambition. Wolff laughed at her, mistaking the cause of her hesitation.
"Verily, I am growing to be a wise husband!" he said gaily. "Are all the fine dresses worn out, that my wife's fair face should be so overcast? Well, there! Is that enough to cover future expenses, Vanity?"
He had pressed a little bundle of paper-money into her hand, and she looked at it, dazed with surprise. She did not know that it was Bruno's price which he had given her, but again her eyes filled. She pitied him in that moment more than herself.
"You dear, generous fellow!" she stammered mechanically.
"It's not generosity, little woman. It's only right that you should have change and gaiety. You must not think that I do not understand how dull and dreary it must sometimes be. I do understand—it goads me sometimes to think how little I can do. Perhaps one day it will all be better—when I am Field-Marshal, you know!"
He tried to laugh, but somehow a certain weariness rang through his laughter. She heard it, and remorse mingled with her pity.
"You must not worry about all that," she said gently. "I must be a poor kind of wife if I am not satisfied as I am." She repeated her words to herself, and felt that there was bitter truth in them.
For a moment Wolff remained silent. She thought he was resting, but presently he spoke again, and she knew that he had been preparing himself to approach a graver subject.
"Nora, there is something I want you to do for me, something I want you to promise."