"Now I request that this utter foolishness shall end, for my patience is exhausted. There has been an awful turmoil in all Burgsdorf for three days, as if the place were conjured. Hartmut is full of foolishness from head to toe. When once he gets free from the rein which his father draws so tight there is no getting on with him. And you, of course, go with him through thick and thin, following obediently everything that your lord and master starts. You are a fine team!"
This lecture, delivered in very loud tones, came from the lips of Frau von Eschenhagen of Burgsdorf, who sat at breakfast with her son and brother.
The large dining-room was in the lower story of the old mansion, and was a rather bare room, the glass doors of which led to a broad terrace, and from there into the garden. Some antlers hung upon the whitewashed walls, giving evidence of the Nimrod proclivities of former owners. They were also the only ornament of the room.
A dozen straightback chairs standing in stiff rows like grenadiers, a heavy dining table, and two old-fashioned sideboards constituted all of the furniture, which, as one could see, had already served several generations.
