ave told each other our whole story," said Daniel. "In the way of
words we owe each other nothing. We have had enough of talk; there has
been no lack of sorrow and enough of error. We can no longer act
differently, and therefore we dare not act differently any longer."

"Be still," whispered Eleanore, "I don't like your wrangling; what you
say is so unpeaceful and fiendish. Yesterday I dreamed that you were
lying on your knees and had your folded hands uplifted. Then I loved
you--very much."

"Do you need dreams in order to love me, girl? I don't; I need you just
as you are. I will soon be thirty years old, Eleanore. A man never
really wakes up until he is thirty; it is then that he conquers the
world. You know what rests within me; you suspect it. You know too how I
need you; you feel it. You are my soul; you are created out of my music;
without you I am an empty hull, a patchwork, a violin without strings."

"Oh, Daniel, I believe you, and yet it is not all true," replied
Eleanore. He thought he could see in the darkness her mockingly ironical
smile: "Somewhere, I am almost tempted to say in God, it is not true. If
we were better, if we were beings in the image of God and acting in
God's ways, we would have to desist from our own ways. Then it would be
wonderful to live: it would be like living above the clouds, happy, at
peace, pure."

"Does that come from your heart, Eleanore?"

"My dear, dear man! My heart, like yours, has been beclouded and
bewitched. I cannot give you up. I have settled my accounts. In my soul
I am entirely conscious of my guilt. I know what I am doing and assume
full responsibility for my action. There is no use to struggle any
longer; the water is already swirling over our heads. I simply want to
say that you should not delude yourself into believing that we have
risen up above other people by what we have done, that we have deserved
the gratitude of fate. No, Daniel, what we are doing is precisely what
all those do who fall. Let me stay with you, dearest; kiss me, kiss me
to death."

V

Philippina had promised Eleanore to look after Jordan and Gertrude on
Sunday.

As she was crossing Five Points, she went into a shop, and asked for
three pfennigs' worth of court plaster. While doing some housework she
had scratched herself on a nail. The clerk gave her the plaster, and
asked her what was the news.

"Ah, you poor bloke, you want to know the very l