The whole court began to watch and to whisper,
and Linden's love-making became so apparent, that the princess thought it
necessary to warn Kaethe against the tempter and his wiles. Fraeulein
Markwald answered blushing, but in a steady voice:
"I thank you, Your Highness, I know that your advice is kindly meant, but
I also know that Baron von Linden is a man of honour, and that I have
given him no reason, to think meanly of me."
This answer seemed to the princess wholly unsatisfactory, and as she
believed it her duty to take special care of Kaethe, an orphan, she did
not delay in cautiously calling Robert himself to account. What he said
to her the princess kept to herself for a time, but two days later people
learned that Kaethe's brother, an energetic cavalry officer, attached to a
regiment of Hussars in the Rhine country, had suddenly arrived in the
capital from his garrison, and on the following day, which was
Whitsuntide, the "Morning Journal" announced the betrothal of Herr
Robert, Baron von Linden, to Fraeulein Kaethe von Markwald.
The effect of the news on society was like the bursting of a dynamite
cartridge before every individual.
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