that one of them would come to live at home with her; this would mean
that he would take the care of the estate on his shoulders with its
troubles and responsibilities. Soon after their arrival the sons seemed
to have had an interview with their mother which clearly worried her, for
she went about silently, refusing to answer any questions. Bruno strode
up and down the terrace with flaming eyes whole hours at a time, without
saying a word. Salo was the only sociable one left, and sometimes he
would come and sit down beside us; but if we questioned him about their
apparent feud, he remained silent. How different this was from our
former gay days! But this painful situation did not last long. On the
fifth or sixth day after their arrival the brothers did not appear for
breakfast. The Baroness immediately inquired in great anxiety if they
had left the castle, but nobody seemed to have noticed them. Apollonie
was the only one who had seen them going upstairs together in the early
morning, so she was sent up to look for them in the tower rooms. When
she found them empty, she opened the door of the old fencing-hall by some
strange impulse. Here Salo was crouching half fainting on the floor. He
told her that it was nothing to worry about, and that he had only lost
consciousness for a moment. She had to help him to get up, however, and
he came downstairs supported on her arm. The Baroness never said a word.
She stayed in her son's chamber till the physician who had been sent for
had gone away again. Then returning to us, she sat down beside Leonore
and me and told us that we ought to know what had happened. Apparently
she was very calm, but I had never seen her face so pale. She informed
us that when she had spoken to her sons about their future plans, she had
discovered that neither of them had ever spoken about it to the other.
Now they both declared to her that their full intention had been for
years to come home after the completion of their studies and to live in
Wildenstein with her and Leonore. Bruno was quite beside himself when he
found that Salo had apparently no intention to yield to him in the