not suspect. Not a word
betrayed that he had made her acquaintance before. He inquired about
the condition and events of her native city, and asked how she liked
Berlin and its inhabitants. The little farce amused the young girl too,
and she merrily entered into it. Moreover she had the delicate tact to
make herself particularly agreeable to Adele and Christiane, so that
after the first glass of champagne the singer, like the "good fellow"
she was, touched glasses with her, declared that she had taken a great
fancy to her, would go to see her in the city and in return Toinette
must go to the theatre every evening that she appeared.

Christian also could not deny the charm of the new acquaintance, though
she certainly felt no pleasure in it. Never had she seemed to herself
so destitute of every grace, as beside this bewitching vision, who
appeared gradually to win even her old admirer, Mohr, though he had at
first been embarrassed in the presence of his old friend's "relative,"
who had so suddenly appeared. He became more and more eloquent, and in
his own original fashion poured forth a multitude of quaint sayings,
which he at last addressed almost exclusively to Toinette, perceiving
that his grave neighbor only absently shook her head at his most daring
paradoxes. Marquard, after fulfilling all the duties of a host toward
his guests, comfortably gave himself up, without making any special
exertion to be witty, to a low toned conversation with his little
flame, and only sometimes condescendingly laughed at Mohr's jests, as
if amused by the singular folly of a man who is making an entirely
useless display. For a time Mohr allowed him to laugh and only
occasionally dealt him a satirical thrust. But as he did not spare the
wine and moreover gradually became heated by his own words, his real
feelings toward the comfortable, self-satisfied man of the world, whom
as we know, he accredited with a tolerably shallow brain and cold
heart, at last burst forth.

"My honored friends," said he, as he rose and lifted his full glass, "I
will beg your permission to speak for five minutes on a subject that is
of interest to all. We sit here so cozily either liking each other or
wishing we did. At any rate this modest little orgie is calculated to
excite the envy of the so-called gods, since six people are on a
tolerably green bough of sustenance, washing from their souls all
anxieties about the present and future life, in, I trust, unadu