"For Heaven's sake, make an end of it!" The old gentleman brought his fist down angrily on the window-sill. "Do you want to give her the poison drop by drop?"
He took Gertrude's hand again, and tried to find words to explain.
"You see, Gertrude, it is not so bad; it often happens, and this Wolff may have thrust himself forward, in short--he is a sort of a walking encyclopædia, knows everybody hereabouts, and whenever any one wants to know anything he is sure to be able to tell him. So your husband--well, how shall I excuse it?--he inquired about your circumstances, do you understand?--before he offered himself to you--voilà tout. It happens hundreds of times, child, and you are reasonable, Gertrude, aren't you?"
The young wife stood motionless as a statue. Only gradually the color came to her cheeks.
"That is a lie!" she cried, drawing a long breath. "Did you bring me here for that?"
"But Wolff was here," moaned Mrs. Baumhagen, "asking for my intervention."
"No, he came to us," corrected Jenny, "early this morning; he wanted to speak to Arthur, but Arthur--" she hesitated, "last evening Arthur--"
"You may as well say that Arthur started off suddenly on a journey in the night," interposed Mrs. Baumhagen sharply, "I am very fortunate in my children's marriages!"
"Well, I can't help it if he gets angry at every little thing," laughed the young wife, quite undisturbed. "Besides we are very happy."
"A pretty kind of happiness," grumbled the old gentleman to himself, so low that no one but Gertrude could hear it. Then he added aloud, "A hurried journey on business, we will call it, a sudden journey on business, preceded by a little curtain lecture."