Page:H.M. The Patrioteer.djvu/259

Rh ought to get some of that lobster salad." He pulled Dr. Scheffelweis's ear, and added: "In that matter of the Labour Exchange, the town council has again cut a very poor figure."

The Mayor was eating obediently and listening obediently, while Diederich stood beside Frau von Wulckow and peeped out at the stage. There Magda Hessling was having a music lesson and the teacher, a black-haired virtuoso, was giving her passionate kisses, which she did not happen to resent particularly. "It's a good thing Kienast is not here," thought Diederich, but even on his own account he felt offended, and he remarked:

"Don't you think, Countess, that the music-teacher's acting is too realistic?"

The authoress answered coldly: "That was precisely my intention."

"I only meant &hellip;" Diederich stammered, and then he started, for Frau Hessling appeared in the doorway, or a lady who looked very like her. Emma also came, the couple were caught and were crying and screaming. Wulckow was obliged to raise his voice.

Dr. Scheffelweis tried to answer him, but Magda yelled that she had no intention of marrying the man, the servant was good enough for him. The authoress remarked: "She should say that in a much more vulgar way. They are only parvenus."

Diederich smiled in agreement, although he was terribly humiliated by such a state of affairs in a home that was like his own. In his own mind he thought Emma was quite right, when she declared there must be no scandal, and sent for the servant. But when the latter appeared, hang it all, it was the secret Countess!

The Wulckows' niece addressed herself to the public, as the manufacturer's family was not supposed to hear.

"What! I, the daughter of a Count, am to marry a music-teacher? Far from me such a thought, even if they should