Well, they owed him an apology, too. He allowed them to
make much of him.

The father felt glad, quite relieved that nothing else, nothing
worse had come to light, and the mother had the feeling for the first
time for many weeks that it was possible to love the lad again. Her
voice had something of the old sound once more when she spoke to him.
And she spoke a good deal to him, she felt the need to do so. She had
not spoken so much to him during all those weeks. She felt as if a
spring within her had been bricked up and had to discharge itself now.
He had contracted no debts. Thank God, he was not quite so bad then!
Now she was sorry she had sent the maids to bed, because she had been
annoyed with him for coming home so late--for his loafing about, as she
had called it in her thoughts--and had no proper supper for him. If she
had not been afraid of her husband, she would have gone down into the
kitchen and tried to prepare something better for him herself.

"Have you really had enough?" she said to him in a low voice.

"Oh, it'll do." He felt his superiority.

Paul Schlieben put his paper aside that evening. When his son asked
him politely if he would not read, he shook his head: "No, I've read
the whole evening." He, too, felt the need of, nay, felt it his duty to
have, a friendly talk to his son, even if he found that Kate was going
too far, as usual. She really need not make such a fuss of the boy, he
had done wrong hi any case; the Braumueller matter must not be
forgotten, he ought to have come openly--but really, after all, it was
only a stupidity, a thing that might happen ninety times out of every
hundred.

The man resolved to raise his monthly allowance by 100 marks, when
he paid him on the first of the month. Then he would certainly have
ample, and there could be no more talk of not being able to make both
ends meet and of secrecy.

It was already far past midnight when the parents and son at last
parted. Kate stretched herself in her bed with a feeling of happiness
she had not known for a long time: she would soon fall asleep; she
would not have to lie so long waiting for sleep to come to her, she
felt so relieved, so reassured, so soothed. Things were working better
now, everything would still be right at last. And she whispered softly
to her husband: "Paul!" He did not hear her, he was already half
asleep. Then she whispered more urgently: "Paul, Paul!" And when he
moved she said softly: "Paul, are y