"Yes."

The monosyllable had a very cold, reserved sound, but Hartmut was not
the man to be turned from his course by a rebuff. He was accustomed to
overcome all restraints and obstructions by the power of his
fascinations, and that one of the sex from which he had never received
anything but adulation, should refuse to succumb, was little less than
an insult. There lay a charm, too, in the thought that he would force
this lovely creature into conversation with him, notwithstanding her
reserve.

"Are you pleased with Fürstenstein?" he asked. "I have never been near
the castle, and have only seen it in the distance, but it seems to
overawe the whole region with its magnificence. A singular taste indeed
to find anything lovely in this landscape, and erect a palace here."

"Evidently not your taste, at least."

"I am not specially fond of uniformity, and here there is nothing but
sameness. Woods and woods, and nothing but woods--at times one is almost
driven to despair."

There was a hidden rancour in these words, as if the poor German forest,
with its whispers and its winds was to blame for all the bitterness
which lay in the soul of this returned wanderer; it almost seemed as if
he must flee from them, for he could hardly endure the simple, earnest
song of olden times which fluttered down to him from the tall fir trees.
But his companion only heard the slighting tone.