She did not think of the influence which he exercised upon the Emperor and the service which he might render her, but all the more vividly of his steadfast, devoted loyalty, and what he was and had accomplished for the man whom she loved, and, seized with sincere repentance, obeying a powerful impulse, she held out her hand with frank cordiality just as he was already bowing in farewell.

Adrian hesitated a moment.
What did this mean?
What accident was causing this new change of feeling in this April day of a girl?
But when her sparkling blue eyes gazed at him so brightly and at the same time so plainly showed that she knew she had wronged him, he clasped the hand, and his face again wore a friendly expression.
Then Barbara laughed in her bewitching, bell-like tones and, like a naughty child begging forgiveness for a trivial fault, asked him gaily not to take offence at her foolish arrogance.

All the new things here had somewhat turned her silly brain.

She knew how faithfully he served her Charles, and for that reason she could not help liking him already.
"If you have any cause to find fault with me," she concluded merrily, "out with it honestly." Then addressing Frau Lerch, not as though she were speaking to a servant, but to an older friend, she asked her to leave her alone with Herr Adrian a short time; but she insisted positively on having her own way when the dressmaker remarked that she did not know why, after the greatest secret of all had been forced upon her, her discretion should be distrusted.
As soon as she had retired the valet entreated Barbara to beware of the advice of this woman, whose designs he saw perfectly.

He, Adrian, would wish her to have a companion of nobler nature and more delicate perceptions.
But this warning seemed scarcely endurable to Barbara.