e, too, had to
bear her share of blame. He said jeeringly to himself, that, quixotic
as ever, he had held aloof from her, leaving her in solitude to an
atonement of his own imagining; and meanwhile, some one who was not
troubled by foolish ideals stepped in and took his place. For it WAS
his place; he could not rid himself of that belief. If anyone had a
right to be at her side it was he, unless, indeed, all that he had
undergone on her behalf during the past months counted for nothing.

Of course this Eggis was an unscrupulous fellow; but it was just such
men as this--he might note that for future use--who won where others
lost. At the same time, he shrank from the idea of imitating him; and
even had he been bold enough, not a single errand could he devise to
serve him as an excuse. He could not go to her and say: I come because
I have seen you with some one else. And yet that would be the truth;
and it would lurk beneath all he said.

The days of anxiety that followed were hard to bear. He dreaded every
street-corner, for fear Louise and the other should turn it; dreaded
raising his eyes to the bridges over the ice; and was so irritable in
temper that Madeleine suggested he should go to Dresden in the
Christmas holidays, for change of air.

For, over all this, Christmas had come down--the season of gift-making,
and glittering Christmas trees, of BOWLE, STOLLEN, and HONIGKUCHEN. For
a fortnight beforehand, the open squares and places were set out with
fir-trees of all sizes--their pungent fragrance met one at every turn:
the shops were ablaze till late evening, crowded with eagerly seeking
purchasers; the streets were impassible for the masses of country
people that thronged them. Every one carried brown paper parcels, and
was in a hurry. As the time drew near, subordinates and officials grew
noticeably polite; the very houseporter touched his cap at your
approach. Bakers' shops were piled high with WEIHNACHTSSTOLLEN, which
were a special mark of the festival: cakes shaped like torpedoes, whose
sugared, almonded coats brisked brown and tempting. But the spicy scent
of the firs was the motive that recurred most persistently: it clung
even to the stairways of the houses.

Maurice had assisted Madeleine with her circumstantial shopping; and,
at dusk on Christmas Eve, he helped her to carry her parcels to the
house of some German friends. He himself was invited to Miss Jensen's,
where a party of English and Americans w