hich as the sign of
aboriginal vitality is charming, and immediately made me breathe hard.
Now, as if by chance, a calm glance of the great dark eye, the white of
which was as soft as mother of pearl, fell upon me, and then a second,
quick glance, which toppled me over like a stroke of lightning;
thereupon the profile was turned somewhat rigidly forward again. Never
losing sight of the daintily plump figure in the white lace gown, I
gradually made way for her to pass by me; and if I had taken pleasure
in contemplation of the face, I took, if possible, still more pleasure
in contemplation of the easy walk which animated her whole body with
its graceful rhythm.

In this manner we approached a cross street.

Then, as she stepped down from the sidewalk, she made a false
calculation and swung herself somewhat too far forward; her foot came
down hard upon the pavement, her whole body felt the shock, she
stumbled, and her beauty was gone as quickly as a house built of cards
collapses. I stood still for a moment, then I turned in my tracks,
saying, "What a B[oe]otian and Hyperborean you are! Is there anything
more fragile than enjoyment? Is there anything more sensitive to injury
than grace? Did you not know that? If you had not followed this poor
girl, she would have cleared the barrier as gracefully as a kitten; now
she is as much ashamed as though you had seen her in her petticoat." I
looked once more in her direction; sure enough, she too was looking
round, with a flushed face and stupid, anxious eyes. O these soulful
eyes, eyes like the roe, the antelope, the gazelle, or any other
creature known to zoology. God be with them, and spare me!

Now I at once knew where to go and turned my steps toward the new
streets farther out in the country, which are occupied principally by
Germans. There I had a kind of sweetheart, all for the sake of her
eyes. This had come to pass as follows:

After I had been several months in this beautiful and affluent country,
and, whether in the midst of my boys at school or among the people at
the theatre, in the circus, or in the cafe, kept seeing in the women,
to whom I paid eager attention, always the same great dark eyes, these
eyes began to pall upon me. Why? In Germany, by contrast to our
cerulean blue, steel blue, greenish, and iron gray eyes, brown ones had
often seemed to me especially beautiful and touched my heart as nothing
else could do. Now they bored me. Always the same apparent