"My dear, how I have missed you. What in the world makes you go away so constantly?"
"I make discoveries, dear sister. First, I have seen two storks, arriving on the sacred day—April 23—punctual as lawyers."
A slight pout of her red lips showed that the news did not interest her much.
"Then?"
"I spent three hours in the offices of the Forest Conservators, where I learned that——"
"You can tell all that to father," she interrupted. "I see so much wood here, living and dead, that I have no wish to occupy my mind with it unnecessarily. Tell me some Strasburg news, or about some costumes, or some conversation you had with some one in society."
"That is true," said the young man, laughing. "I did meet some one."
"Interesting?"
"Yes; an old acquaintance of Munich, a lieutenant in the Hussars."
"Lieutenant von Farnow?"