See that n.o.body disturbs him! [_Coming to the front._] So that is settled.--Adelaide here in town! I"ll go straight to her! Stop, keep cool, keep cool! Old Bolz, you are no longer the brown lad from the parsonage. And even if you were, _she_ has long since changed. Gra.s.s has grown over the grave of a certain childish inclination. Why are you suddenly thumping so, my dear soul? Here in town she is just as far off from you as on her estates. [_Seating himself and playing with a pencil._] "Nothing like keeping cool," murmured the salamander as he sat in the stove fire.
_Enter_ KORB.
KORB.
Is Mr. Bolz in?
BOLZ (_jumping up_).
Korb! My dear Korb! Welcome, heartily welcome! It is good of you not to have forgotten me. [_Shakes hands with him._] I am very glad to see you.
KORB.
And I even more to see you. Here we are in town. The whole village sends greetings! From Anton the stable-boy--he is now head man--to the old night watchman whose horn you once hung up on the top of the tower. Oh, what a pleasure this is!
BOLZ.
How is Miss Runeck? Tell me, old chap!
KORB.
Very well indeed, now. But we have been through much. The late general was ill for four years. It was a bad time. You know he was always an irritable man.
BOLZ.
Yes, he was hard to manage.--
KORB.
And especially during his illness. But Miss Adelaide took care of him, so gentle and so pale, like a perfect lamb. Now, since his death, Miss Adelaide runs the estate, and like the best of managers. The village is prospering again. I will tell you everything, but not until this evening. Miss Adelaide is waiting for me; I merely ran in quickly to tell you that we are here.
BOLZ.
Don"t be in such a hurry, Korb.--So the people in the village still think of me!
KORB.
I should say they did! No one can understand why you don"t come near us. It was another matter while the old gentleman was alive, but now--
BOLZ (_seriously_).
My parents are dead; a stranger lives in the parsonage.
KORB.
But we in the manor-house are still alive! Miss Runeck would surely be delighted--
BOLZ.
Does she still remember me?
KORB.
Of course she does. This very day she asked about you.
BOLZ.
What did she ask, old chap?
KORB.
She asked me if it was true what people are saying, that you have grown very wild, make debts, run after girls, and are up to the devil generally.
BOLZ.
Good gracious! You stood up for me, I trust?
KORB.
Of course! I told her that all that might be taken for granted with you.
BOLZ.
Confound it! That"s what she thinks of me, is it? Tell me, Korb, Miss Adelaide has many suitors, has she not?
KORB.
The sands of the sea are as nothing to it.
BOLZ (_vexed_).
But yet she can finally choose only one, I suppose.
KORB (_slyly_).
Correct! But which one? That"s the question.
BOLZ.
Which do you think it will be?
KORB.
Well, that is difficult to say. There is this Mr. von Senden who is now living in town. If any one has a chance it is probably he. He fusses about us like a weasel. Just as I was leaving he sent to the house a whole dozen of admission cards to the great fete at the club.
It must be the sort of club where the upper cla.s.ses go arm-in-arm with the townspeople.
BOLZ.
Yes, it is a political society of which Senden is a director. It is casting out a great net for voters. And the Colonel and the ladies are going?