Hildegarde shook her head.
"I cannot criticise," she said. "You played so well together, much better than when I was able to take my part." She hesitated. "One could hardly believe that you had never practised together before," she added slowly.
Nora rose and closed the piano. Without knowing why, the words pained her and the brief silence that followed seemed oppressive.
Arnim followed her example.
"I have been here a disgraceful time!" he exclaimed, looking at his watch. "And there! I have never even told you what I really came about. I have been passed into the General Staff. What do you think of that? Are you not proud to have such a cousin?"
His tone was gay, half teasing, but there was no response from the quiet figure on the sofa. Nora's eyes, rendered suddenly sharp, saw that the pale lips were compressed as though in pain.
"Of course, Wolff, I am so glad. It is splendid for you. How long will you be there—in Berlin, I mean?"
"A long time, I expect, unless there is a war."
Then, as though by some intuition he knew what was passing in her mind, he came to her side and took her hand affectionately between his own.
"You and the mother will have to come too," he said. "I have just been telling her that I cannot get on without you. Imagine my lonely state! It's bad enough here, now that I have no one to ride out with me. Old Bruno is eating off his head in anticipation of the day when you will gallop him through the woods again."