"Dear friend, I rejoice that the carpenter's work of your domestic happiness stands so firmly already that you can have a housewarming; I wish Fate may deal more kindly with you than it has with me, and that the lightning may not strike the timbers before the masonry of the house is firm and you can make your entry into it. Good luck to you! I dread my meeting with Eva, and I fear--" Blanden suddenly stopped in the middle of his speech; he stood up, stepped to the railing, and gazed out fixedly.
"What is the matter with you, my friend?"
"It may be caused by the light, or my eye be dazzled from having previously looked too long at the evening sun."
"Why?" asked Wegen, wiping his glasses hastily, so as to assist his friend as much as possible.
"It seems to me--I cannot distinguish properly--let us wait until the boat is nearer."
Blanden did not dare to give utterance to his fears; the words would not pass his lips.
"The boat is drawing nearer," said Wegen quietly. "I even recognise it now, although I am convinced that my glasses in future must be one number lower; too often they leave me in the lurch."
After a pause of terrified expectation, Blanden cried suddenly--
"No, no--I am not mistaken--and yet--it is impossible; I only see one girl now in the boat. Can idiot Kätchen be making another swimming excursion and Eva be holding the oars?"
"You are right--I only see one living creature in the boat; perhaps Eva has become unwell from the swell of the waves and laid herself down in the bottom of the skiff; the best remedy for sea sickness--I always lie upon deck like a mummy."