inued, 'lit my pipe, and, contemplating
the evening heavens from the window, happy in the thought of being so
near my little wife, I fell into an abstraction.'

I shook my head. 'These abstractions. Professor,' I observed, 'are
inconvenient things to fall into. What had happened by the time you fell
out again?'

'I found that I had emerged from my compartment and was standing on the
ferry that takes the train across the water to Stralsund. The ancient
city rose in venerable majesty----'

'Never mind the ancient city, dearest Professor. Look at your notes
again--what was Charlotte doing?'

'Charlotte? She had entirely escaped my memory, so great was the
pleasure excited in my breast by the contemplation of the starlit scene
before me. But glancing away from the massive towers of Stralsund, my
eye fell on the word "_Frauen_" on the window of the ladies' carriage.
Instantly remembering Charlotte, I clambered up eager to speak to her.
The compartment was empty.'

'She too was contemplating the starlit scene from the deck of the
ferry?'

'She was not.'

'Were there no bags in the carriage?'

'Not a bag.'

'What had become of her?'

'She had left the train; and I'll tell thee how. At Bergen, our only
stopping-place, we crossed a train returning to Sassnitz. Plentiful
applications of drink-money to officials revealed the fact that she had
changed into this train.'

'Not very clever,' I thought.

'No, no,' said the Professor, as if he had heard me thinking. 'The
little Lot's cleverness invariably falls just short of the demands made
upon it. At critical moments, when the choice lies between the substance
and the shadow, I have observed she unfailingly chooses the shadow. This
comical life she leads, what is it but a pursuit of shadows?
However----' And he stopped short, not caring, I suppose, to discuss his
wife.

'Where do you think she is now?'

'I conjecture not far from here. I arrived at Sassnitz at one o'clock
this morning by the Swedish boat-train. I was told that a lady answering
her description had got out there at eleven, taken a fly, and driven
into the town. I walked out here to speak with thee, and was only
waiting for the breakfast-hour to seek thee out, for she will not, being
so near thee, omit to join thee.'

'You must be perfectly exhausted.'

'What I most wish for is breakfast.'

'Then let us go and see if we can't get some. Gertrud will be up by now,
and can produce coffee at the sho