Then a sudden light came in his eyes.

"Perhaps not," he muttered.

"Who knows ?" A man need not, I hope, be deemed uxorious for liking a quiet dinner alone with his wife before he starts on a long journey.

Such, at least, was my fancy; and I was annoyed to find that Helga's cousin, Anton von Strofzin, had invited himself to share our meal and our farewell.

He conversed with his usual airy emptiness on all the topics that were supplying Strelsau with gossip.