ho stared at his glasses as if held by a charm.

"We have done everything that was humanly possible," she said. "We have
written to the consulates, we have inquired of the military outposts and
missionary stations, and all to no purpose." After a pause she said with
a little more vivacity: "You do not wish me to ask you in, I hope. It is
so painful to my aunt to hear a strange voice, and I cannot think of
letting you talk to her. If I did, it would merely open her old wounds,
and she has a hard enough time of it as it is."

Daniel nodded and went on his way. A coarse laugh could be heard down in
the entrance hall; it was painfully out of harmony with the depressed
atmosphere of the Benda apartment. He felt his heart grow faint; he felt
a burning desire for something, though he was unable to say precisely
what, something sweet and radiant.

On the last landing he stopped, and looked with utter amazement into
the hall below.

Herr Carovius was dancing like a Merry-Andrew around the door of his
residence. He had a crown of silver paper on his head, and was trying to
ward off the importunate advances of a young girl. His smiles were
tender but senile. The girl wore a carnival costume. Her dark blue
velvet dress, covered with threads of silver, made her robust figure
look slenderer than it actually was. A black veil-like cloth hung from
her shoulders to the ground, and then draped along behind her for about
three paces. It was sprinkled with glittering tinsel. In her hand she
held a hideous wax mask of the face of an old sot with a red nose. She
was trying to fit the mask to Herr Carovius's face.

She was working hard to make him yield; she said she was not going to
leave until she had put the mask on his face. Herr Carovius shook the
door, which in the meantime had closed, fumbled about in his pockets for
the key, but the girl gave him no peace.

"Come now, Teddy," she kept crying, "come, Uncle, don't be such an old
bore." She kept getting closer and closer to him.

"You wait, I'll show you how to make a fool of respectable people,"
croaked Herr Carovius in well-meaning anger. He resembled an old dog,
hopping about and getting ready to make the plunge when his master
throws his walking stick into the water. In his zeal, however, to
prevent the girl from offending his dignity, he had forgotten the paper
crown on his head. It wabbled and shook so when he hopped around, that
the girl nearly split her sides laughing.