I am more homesick even than they are. Here one
gets the blues, or is driven wild with rage."

"But there are such interesting events still com-
ing off, " remarked Franka. "An American inventor
is going to tell us of the most unheard-of things,
things that will quite revolutionize the future."

Coriolan shrugged his shoulders: "There are noth-
ing but unheard-of things here. It would be much
better to teach people to go back to the past, to
cultivate their historical sense, than to be always

285



WHEN THOUGHTS WILL SOAR

trying to stir up new rubbish. Is the man going to
speak to-day?"

"No, Chlodwig Helmer is to speak to-day. "

"Well, that does not tempt me. On the Sielen-
burg he always preserved a discreet silence; only
once he broke out and what he said — I don't re-
member what it was — turned my stomach. I re-
gard him as a radical. "

"Eduard was very much attached to him,'*
spoke up the Countess Adele in defense of the for-
mer secretary; " he would not have kept a radical
so long. . . . But, children, we must be going now.
It is lunch-time and there is still much to do about
packing."

She stood up. The others followed her example,
and they took their leave. It was not a painful
parting. Franka drew a breath of relief when the
door closed behind her relatives. But the door
opened again, and FrSlulein Albertine came back
with a deep air of mystery.
