Something must have been furiously at work in her over the last few days. Ulrich was about to tell her that he regarded these deliberations on how to damage Hagauer as impermissible and that he didn’t want to talk about it again: but just then the old servant came in to bring them their meal and they could go on talking only in allusions.

“Aunt Malvina,” Agathe said, smiling at her brother, “do you remember Aunt Malvina? She had intended to leave her entire estate to our cousin; that was all settled and everyone knew about it! Consequently, all that the girl was left in her parents’ will was the minimum she was entitled to by law, while the rest went to her brother. That way neither of the children, whose father loved them both equally, would receive more than the other. Surely you remember this? The annuity that cousin Agathe—I mean Alexandra,” she corrected herself, laughing, “has been receiving since she got married was discounted against this obligatory inheritance until further notice. It was a complicated business, to give Aunt Malvina time to die...”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying,” Ulrich had muttered.

“But it’s easy to understand! Aunt Malvina is dead today, but she had already lost everything she had before she died; she even had to be supported. Now Papa only needs to have forgotten to revoke that change he himself made in his will, and Alexandra gets absolutely nothing, even if her marriage contract stipulates joint ownership of property!”

“I don’t know, I think that would be far from certain,” Ulrich said impulsively. “Also, Father must have given certain assurances. He couldn’t have done all this without discussing it with his son-in-law!”

Yes, he remembered only too well having answered like that, because he simply couldn’t keep silent listening to his sister’s dangerous mistake. He remembered vividly, too, the smile with which she had looked at him then: “That’s how he is!” she seemed to be thinking. “All you need to do is present a case to him as if it weren’t flesh and blood but some general state of affairs, and you can lead him around by the nose!” And then she had curtly asked: “Were any of these assurances left in writing?” and answered herself: “I never heard anything about it, and if it were the case, I certainly should have known. The fact is, Papa was strange about everything.”

At this moment food was being served, and she took advantage of Ulrich’s helplessness to add: “Verbal agreements can always be reneged. But if the will was in fact changed again after Aunt Malvina had lost her money, there is every indication that this second codicil has been lost.”

And again Ulrich let himself be gulled into correcting her: “But there’s still the obligatory inheritance, which is a considerable amount; this can’t be taken away from biological children!”

“But I already told you that this was paid out during the father’s lifetime! Alexandra was married twice, after all!”