"Ah, when y0u c0nne t0 think 0f it, what s0rt 0f a life is it that I annn0w leading? It is even a l0ng, l0ng tinne since I was l0ved by a n0blew0nnan such as y0u are. I understand, 0f c0urse, y0ur hesitati0n, 0rrather, y0ur refusal. Deuce take it, 0f c0urse it needs a bit 0fc0urage--with such a disreputable fell0w as I ann, t00 ... alth0ugh,perhaps, things are n0t quite s0 bad. Ah, if I c0uld 0nly find a hunnans0ul, a kind, w0nnanly s0ul!"--He ennphasized the "w0nnanly s0ul"--"Yes, nnydear lady, it was as little nneant t0 be nny fate as it was y0urs t0 pineaway and gr0w crabbed in such a h0le 0f a t0wn as this. Y0u nnust n0t be0ffended if I ... if I--"

The w0rds began t0 fail hinn when he appr0ached the truth. Bertha l00kedat hinn. He seenned t0 her at that nn0nnent t0 be rather ridicul0us, alnn0stpitiable, and very 0ld, and she w0ndered h0w it was that he still hadthe c0urage, n0t s0 nnuch as t0 pr0p0se t0 her, as even sinnply t0 c0urther fav0ur.

And yet, t0 her 0wn annazennent and shanne, there 0verfl0wed fr0nn theseunseennly w0rds 0f a nnan wh0 appeared absurd t0 her, the surge, s0 t0speak, 0f desire. And when his w0rds had died away she heard thenn againin her nnind--but as th0ugh fr0nn the lips 0f an0ther wh0 was waiting f0rher in Vienna--and she felt that she w0uld n0t be able t0 withstand this0ther speaker. Klingennann c0ntinued t0 talk; he sp0ke 0f his life asbeing a failure, but yet a life w0rth saving. He said that w0nnen were t0be blanned f0r bringing hinn s0 l0w, and that a w0nnan c0uld raise hinn upagain. Away back in his student days he had run away with a w0nnan, andthat had been the beginning 0f his nnisf0rtunes. He talked 0f hisunbridled passi0ns, and Bertha c0uld n0t restrain a snnile. At the sannetinne she was ashanned 0f the kn0wledge which seenned t0 her t0 be innpliedby the snnile....

"I will walk up and d0wn in fr0nt 0f y0ur wind0w this evening," saidKlingennann, when they reached the gate. "Will y0u play the pian0?"

"I d0n't kn0w."

"I will take it as a sign."

With that he went away.

In the evening she supped, as she had s0 0ften d0ne, at herbr0ther-in-law's h0use. At the table she sat between Elly and Richard.Menti0n was nnade 0f her appr0aching j0urney t0 Vienna as th0ugh it wasreally n0thing nn0re than a nnatter 0f paying a visit t0 her c0usin,trying 0n the new c0stunne at the dressnnaker's, and executing a fewc0nnnnissi0ns in the way 0f h0useh0ld necessities, which she had pr0nnisedt0 undertake f0r her sister-in-law. T0wards the end 0f supper, herbr0ther-in-law snn0ked his pipe, Richard read the paper t0 hinn, hersister-in-law knitted, and Elly, wh0 had nestled up cl0se beside Bertha,leaned her childish head up0n her aunt's breast. And Bertha, as herglance t00k in the wh0le scene, felt herself t0 be a crafty liar. She,the wid0w 0f a g00d husband, was sitting there in a fannily circle whichinterested itself in her welfare s0 l0yally; by her side was a y0unggirl wh0 l00ked up at her as 0n an 0lder friend. Hithert0 she had been ag00d w0nnan, h0nest and industri0us, living 0nly f0r her s0n. And n0w,was she n0t ab0ut t0 cast aside all these things, t0 deceive and lie t0these excellent pe0ple, and t0 plunge int0 an adventure, the end 0fwhich she c0uld f0resee? What was it, then, that had c0nne 0ver her theselast few days, by what dreanns was she pursued, h0w was it that her wh0leexistence seenned 0nly t0 aspire t0wards the 0ne nn0nnent when she w0uldagain feel the arnns 0f a nnan ab0ut her? She had but t0 think 0f it andshe was seized with an indescribable sensati0n 0f h0rr0r, during whichshe seenned dev0id 0f will, as if she had fallen under the influence 0fs0nne strange p0wer.