u too?" he called in a jesting tone.
"You ought to drink a cup of coffee, it will soothe your nerves. Or is
genius made giddy by its own lofty flights?" There was no reply Mohr
accompanied her to the door. "Stay here," she whispered imperiously.

"But you'll come back again?"

"When this feeling has passed away." With these words she left him, and
in a greatly agitated mood he returned to the piano. It gave him
pleasure to sit down in her chair and touch the same keys over which
her hands had just dashed. But he did not play; only now and then he
softly struck a chord, as if to caress the strings she had handled so
roughly. Besides he listened constantly, but nothing stirred, and after
a time he knew that she was not coming back again.

Suddenly he started up. "My friends," said he, "Fraeulein Christiane has
taken French leave of us. But as it's growing very dark and she did not
feel particularly well, I think it would be better for me to follow and
if necessary offer my services as escort, in case she cannot find a
carriage. Marquard, will you attend to matters here and tell me
tomorrow my share of the reckoning, Fraeulein Christiane's expenses of
course included. Good night and a pleasant evening!"

Before any one could reply, he put on his grey felt hat and disappeared
also. Half an hour later two droschkys drove away from the Pagoda. The
first was occupied by Marquard and Adele, the second by Edwin and
Toinette. The first, whose windows were closed to shut out the cool
evening air, and which seemed in no hurry to reach its destination,
soon turned off from the highway into the darker avenues of the
Thiergarten as if with the intention of leaving its companion behind.
In the second carriage the window on Toinette's side was open, although
the breeze was somewhat damp and chilly. But the beautiful girl said
she liked it, that the music had gone to her head, and in fact her
cheeks were burning. As they drove on, talking about the people with
whom they had spent the last few hours, the conversation gradually
became less fluent and finally ceased, the moon rose above the tree
tops, and aided by the extreme clearness of the autumn air soon cast a
bright silvery light over the trees by the way side and the stones on
the road. It was charming to gaze into the more densely shaded portions
of the park, where mysterious lights and shadows played, where now a
statue appeared in dazzling whiteness, and anon a black clump of