with great solemnity, stopping before the glass
and endeavoring to give a bolder wave to his cropped hair.

"Now you," he continued, "haven't by any means got rid of the baron
yet. Take my word for it, clothes really do make the man. One is a very
different kind of fellow in his shirt-sleeves or in a blouse, than in
one of the elegant, pinched-up monkey-jackets of the latest style.
Doesn't every one of us play a _role_? Now just ask Elfinger whether
the true spirit of the _role_ doesn't lie in the costume of the actor.
I, for example, in a coat that any Tom or Dick could wear, should feel
myself so lowered to their level that I shouldn't want to take a brush
in my hand. But dressed as I am, even in my company toilet, I can shout
_anch' io_ as lustily as far greater people. But you show no signs of
getting ready. What do you say to making a sensation by coming late?"

Felix had had time to relapse once more into his melancholy mood. He
answered that he had had disagreeable news from home, and was in no
humor for going into company. Rosenbusch must excuse him; besides, it
would make no difference to the countess whether an unknown beginner--

"What!" cried the battle-painter, "you are going to leave me to go
alone to the enchanted garden of this Armida, while all the time I have
been counting on you to save me in case of necessity! Jansen is sure to
come late in any case, even if he decides to go at all. No, my dear
fellow, you know I expend such unheard-of courage on canvas, that not
much remains to me for the _salon_. So, back to back, shoulder to
shoulder, with a friend and companion-in-arms, or I will crawl into the
first violon-cello-case I come to, and bring disgrace upon the Paradise
Club."

He forced Felix, who half laughed and half protested, to make his
toilet, and then dragged him out with him, holding tightly to his arm
even after they were in the street, as though he still feared that he
might try to give him the slip. At heart Felix was glad to be forced.
He was secretly ashamed of his fear to enter, even on a day when she
was absent, the house where his old sweetheart was living; but now all
the depression which had weighed upon him ever since he found out she
was in the city left him in the company of his merry friend, and the
latter's account of his latest adventures as rejected suitor and happy
lover put him in the most cheerful humor. He rallied the artist upon
his flighty heart, which, instead of dr