afterwards. Now--now, I will show you what I think of you and your
present." She tore the paper from his hand, rolled it like a ball and
threw it upon the floor, where she stamped on it passionately with her
little foot.

"But Fräulein--" Willibald, vacillating between shame and anger, would
have interfered to save his roses, but the dangerous look in the dark
eyes warned him to keep back.

"Now we are quits. If Toni knows nothing about all this I am sorry, but
I shall stay away for the future rather than expose myself to fresh
insults. I pray she may be happy, though I should certainly not be so in
her place. I am only a poor girl, but I would never marry a man who was
afraid to speak without his mother's permission. No, not if he were heir
to Burgsdorf ten times over."

With this she turned her back upon the heir, and a second later left the
room.

"Will, what does this mean?" sounded the voice of Frau von Eschenhagen,
who stood in the half-open door. As she received no answer, she crossed
the room to her son's side with a step and manner which prophesied no
good for that young man.

"That was a most remarkable scene which I have just witnessed. Will you
be good enough to explain to me what it signifies? That little
insignificant thing, bubbling over with passion and anger, telling you
the most disgraceful things to your very face, and you standing there
like a sheep, taking them all."