t with me ever since;
I used to wear it stuck in my bodice instead of the spoon which, as a
waiter-girl, I ought to have carried, and it's not a week ago that I
told Hiesl my opinion of him once for all, and he grew so furious that
he snatched the knife away from me, and cried out 'to remember him if
anything happened,' or something of that kind. But I laughed, and said
unless he gave it back to me something _would_ happen, for I would
complain of him to the police. _He_ my lover! Well, I _should_ be a
fool! Besides, I don't want any lover at all; it always ends in the
girl's being deceived; and the one she can get she doesn't like, and
the one she likes she can't get. And now let me go, Herr Baron, the
ladies and gentlemen inside are waiting, and you must go and pay your
court to the Fraeulein. Why should you waste your time out here with a
waitress?"

She made a movement as if to take up her mugs again, but without
hurrying herself particularly.

Just at this moment the music struck up again, playing a cheerful but
not very lively waltz, apparently with the purpose of inviting the more
elderly guests to join the dance.

"Zenz," said Felix, looking her straight in the face, "I don't care
anything about the Fraeuleins inside there; and, besides, I don't feel
in a mood for love-making. As soon as the storm is over, I am going off
without taking leave. If any one asks after me, you need only say that
I wanted to be in Starnberg in time to catch the last train. But first
I want to know whether I can't do you a favor of any kind, or get
something for you in the city, or whether you have any wish that a good
friend could fulfill for you? Speak out, Zenz! I am so unhappy myself
that I would like, at least, to give a little bit of happiness to some
one else."

She looked searchingly in his face, as if to see whether he was in
earnest. She could not understand why he should not be happy.

"Do you know," said she, at last, "if what you said was not meant as a
joke, I have a wish, and there is nothing so very terrible about it
either--I would like to dance with you, just once."

"To dance with me?"

"Of course I know well enough what is proper, and that a waiter-girl
shouldn't mix among the wedding-guests unless it happens to be a
peasant's wedding. But to be always hearing this beautiful music, that
makes you tingle down to the tips of your toes, and yet never to be
allowed to swing round with the rest, is very hard. I