ette was paying too close attention to an
exposition of art by the "interesting young man," as she called Kohle,
to take any heed of the fact that Rosebud and Nanny occasionally
disappeared from view entirely, while Fanny anxiously insisted upon not
getting out of sight of the others.

Felix soon lost himself in a lonely side-path. His heart was hot within
him, and wild plans chased one another through his brain. He realized
only too well that matters could not go on in this way; that this state
of indecision _after_ the decision would soon drive him to despair. If
the old world really was not large enough for him to avoid one woman
in, the ocean must separate them again, and this time forever. What he
was to do over there; how he could justify his resolution to Jansen, or
reconcile it with his choice of art as a profession, or with his own
pride, were questions which were still enveloped in darkness. But as
for tamely submitting, and allowing himself to be made a fool of by
capricious fortune, which seemed as if it had deliberately set itself
to work to bring the two lovers together on every possible occasion--to
this he would never consent!

Whether he himself had not played into the hands of chance a little,
yesterday, was a question he did not ask.

A distant peal of thunder, rolling toward him from the west, suddenly
roused him from these confused and bitter thoughts. The sky above the
tree-tops was still blue, but was overcast by that light, lead-colored
haze which precedes an approaching storm. There was no time to waste if
they wanted to get across the lake before the storm should break. For
already the air held its breath so utterly that not a leaf rustled on
the trees, and not even the note of a bird was heard. The lake, along
the banks of which Felix was hastening, was still unruffled by a breath
of wind; but its mid-waters were black with the reflection of the
heavy, low-hanging cloud that spread over the heaven like a gigantic
slab hewn from a single block of slate. Behind it, the bright sunlight
still glowed on the horizon, and the distant mountain chain shone out
in the delicate green of spring, as if bathed in eternal peace.

The approach of the storm had been observed by the people in the
garden, and most of the guests had been prudent enough to embark on the
steamboat which had just left, and was now half-way over to Starnberg.
But by the time Felix had joined his friends again it was too late for