We were just talking of you. You are getting so much stronger
every day that we can't be sure of you long," said the Baron.
"You have spoiled me,--I am not at all anxious to venture back into the
world. These Virginia gardens are a dream world, where nothing is really
quite true."
"Something must be done about your father's estate soon. It is yours,
waiting and ready."
The Baron bent toward the young man anxiously.
Armitage shook his head slowly, and clasped the stick with both hands and
held it across his knees.
"No,--no! Please let us not talk of that any more. I could not feel
comfortable about it. I have kept my pledge to do something for his
country--something that we may hope pleases him if he knows."
The three were silent for a moment. A breeze, sweet with pine-scent of
the hills, swept the valley, taking tribute of the gardens as it passed.
The Baron was afraid to venture his last request.
"But the name--the honored name of the greatest statesman Austria has
known--a name that will endure with the greatest names of Europe--surely
you can at least accept that.
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