Fritz shuddered at the prospect.

"On the day when Jack comes into the house, I shall go out of it," he
said. The social consequences of my aunt's contemplated experiment
suddenly struck him while he spoke. "What will Mrs. Wagner's friends
think?" he asked piteously. "They will refuse to visit her--they will say
she's mad herself."

"Don't let that distress you, gentlemen--I shan't mind what my friends
say of me."

We both started in confusion to our feet. My aunt herself was standing at
the open door of the summer-house with a letter in her hand.

"News from Germany, just come for you, Fritz."

With those words, she handed him the letter, and left us.

We looked at each other thoroughly ashamed of ourselves, if the truth
must be told. Fritz cast an uneasy glance at the letter, and recognized
the handwriting on the address. "From my father!" he said. As he opened
the envelope a second letter enclosed fell out on the floor. He changed
color as he picked it up, and looked at it. The seal was unbroken--the
postmark was Wurzburg.

CHAPTER VII

Fritz kept the letter from Wurzburg unopened in his hand.