s!_"

"You do understand," she said; "I know you do, and you know that I know
that you do."

He looked at her for a few seconds and then asked:

"How long are you in Constance?"

"I do not know."

"And then where do you go?"

"Probably to Munich."

"With always that Molly?"

"I do not know whether they will go there or not. I believe they are
going to Bayreuth and then to Berlin."

He reflected for the space of half a block.

"I should really go to Leipsic," he said at last.

"Then why don't you go?" she retorted, more in answer to his tone than
to his speech.

"I might perhaps go to Leipsic while you are in Constance,--_perhaps_."

Heavy emphasis on the last "perhaps."

"Oh, do!" she pleaded.

"Are you going to Bayreuth?"

"No, I don't think so; they all come down to Munich right afterwards,
you know."

"But it is not the same in Munich. If you had been in Bayreuth you would
know that. It is not the same at all. And 'Parsifal' is only there."

He paused, but she made no answer.

"I am going to Bayreuth," he said, "and then I shall come to Munich."

He made the last statement with an echo of absolute determination, but
she continued to keep silence.

"In Munich I shall see you once more?"

"Perhaps."

"Where will you be?"

She told him.

"And I shall be in the 'Vierjahreszeiten'; why do you not come there?"
he added.

"Because I love the _pension_ with my whole heart," she declared
fervently; "I was there for an entire winter before my marriage; it is
like home to me."

He stopped, pulled out his note-book and carefully wrote down the name
and address; as he put it up again, he remarked:

"That was droll, what you said to-night, that you would never marry
again! Where do you get that idea?"

"From being married once."

"I have it from never being married any, and I have it very strong. Have
you it very strong?"

"Yes," said Rosina decidedly, "very strong indeed."

"Then when we know all is only nothing, why may I not come to
Constance?"

"Because you can't," she said flatly, "I don't want you to come."

"But I will be very good, and--"

"Yes," she said interrupting; "I know, but to prevent further
misunderstanding, I may just as well tell you that I want all my time in
Constance for my other friend--"

They were at the door of the hotel, and she had her foot upon the lower
step; he was just behind her, his hand beneath her elbow. She felt him
give a violent start and d