rhaps because of his want of spirit, and his perversity."

"No, I believe it is something else. People found a great, strong
animal that could, if it liked, be just as difficult to manage, and
resist just as well as a horse, and yet was quite content with the
worst of food, required neither stable nor grooming, worked till it
dropped, and never bit or kicked. So they said, an animal that is
strong enough to hurt us, and yet puts up with any kind of treatment,
must necessarily be deadly stupid. That is how it was. People cannot
believe that one may be good-tempered and uncomplaining and yet have
any brains. With them to be wicked and violent and pretentious is to be
clever. If the donkey would refuse to eat anything but oats and barley,
and turned and rent anybody who annoyed him in the slightest degree,
you would see how people would immediately have the highest respect for
his intellect."

"You seem to have a low opinion of your fellow-creatures, madame?"

"It is their own fault then," she replied, gazing through the window
into the courtyard.

After this conversation Wilhelm looked for the first time more
attentively at his neighbor. He had a general impression of her being
tall and stout, with a remarkably clear, bright complexion. Now he took
in the details. In spite of the fullness of her figure she was slender
about the waist, and her small slim hands, with their tapering fingers
and pink nails, retained the purity of their outline, and had by no
means degenerated into mere cushions of fat. The proudly-poised head
was crowned by a wealth of heavy, pale brown hair with dull gold
reflections in it, waving in soft, downy locks round her forehead. The
cheeks were very full but firm, and the well shaped, boldly modeled
nose stood in exactly the right proportion to the rather large face.
The light brown eyes with their remarkably small pupils were
conspicuously lively, and flashed and sparkled incessantly on all
sides. Their expression was extremely intelligent and generally
mocking, and if you looked long at them you gained the somewhat
uncomfortable impression that that cold clear glance could, on
occasion, stab a heart as cruelly as would a dagger. But her most
striking feature was her mouth--a sudden dash of violent coral-red in
the opalescent white of her face. This brutal effect of color exercised
a peculiar fascination and riveted the attention. The eye lingered upon
those lips--so voluptuously, so sinfully f