urned to Gertrude with a
diabolic glimmer in her eyes, and, making full use of her vulgar voice,
said: "Whew! Daniel's kind, ain't he? No wonder people can't stand him!"

When she saw that Gertrude knit her brow at this exclamation, she
wheeled about on the heels of her clumsy shoes, and screamed as if the
devil were after her: "Oi, oi, Gertrude, Gertrude, oi, oi, the meat's
burning! The meat's burning."

It was a false alarm. The meat was sizzling quite peacefully in the pan.

IX

Late in the afternoon of a stormy day in June Daniel came home from the
last rehearsal of the "Harzreise," tired and out of humour. The
rehearsals had been held in a small room in Weyrauth's Garden. He had
quarrelled with all the musicians and with all the singers, male and
female.

As he reached AEgydius Place a shudder suddenly ran through his body. He
was forced to cover his eyes with his hands and stand still for a
moment; he thought he would die from longing for a precious virginal
possession which he had been so foolish as to trifle away.

He went up the steps, passed by his own apartment, and climbed on up to
the apartment of Inspector Jordan and his daughter Eleanore.

His eye fell on the board partition surrounding the stove and the copper
cooking utensils that hung on the wall. There sat Eleanore, her arm
resting on the window sill, her head on her hand: she was
meditating--meditating and gaining new strength as she did so. Her face
was turned toward the steep fall of a roof, the century-old frame-work,
grey walls, darkened window panes and dilapidated wooden galleries,
above which lay stillness and a rectangular patch of sky that was then
covered with clouds.

"Good evening," said Daniel, as he stepped out of the darkness into the
dimly lighted room. "What are you doing, Eleanore, what are you thinking
about?"

Eleanore shuddered: "Ah, is it you, Daniel? You show yourself after a
long while? And ask what I am thinking about? What curiosity! Do you
want to come into my room?"

"No, no, sit perfectly still," he replied, and prevented her from
getting up by touching her on the shoulder. "Is your father at home?"

She nodded. He drew a narrow bench from which he had removed the coffee
mill and a strainer up to the serving table, and sat down as far as
possible from Eleanore, though even so they were as close together as
if they were sitting opposite each other in a cab.

"How are you m