Rather less than
half an hour's drive brought them to their destination. Paul would
not hear of Wilhelm making any alteration in his dress, but drew him
as he was into the smoking room on the ground floor, where Malvine
came to meet him, and received him in her hearty but quiet and
uneffusive manner. She was the picture of health, but had grown
perhaps a little too stout for her age. She wore a morning wrap of
red velvet and gold lace, and looked, in that costly attire, like a
princess or a banker's wife.
"You must be very cold and tired," she said; "the coffee is ready,
come at once to breakfast--that will put some warmth into you--you
can dress afterward." She hurried before them into the next room,
where they found an amply spread table over which hovered the
fragrant smell of several steaming dishes. It was a lavish breakfast
in the English style; beside tea and coffee there were eggs, soles,
ham, cold turkey, lobster salad, and several excellent wines. A
servant in the livery of a "Jager" waited at table.
Wilhelm shook his head at the sight of all this splendor. "But, my
dear lady, so much trouble on my behalf!"
"You are quite mistaken," Paul answered for Malvine, and not without
a smile of satisfied pride; "it is our usual breakfast--we have it
so every day.
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