he
stood now in coat and trousers, his hands in his pockets, rattling his
loose money; he was annoyed because he had let them lecture him, and
still he had not the courage to throw everything aside and do exactly
as he liked.

The lad followed the yellow and blue flashes of lightning that clove
the dark stormy sky in zigzag, and poured a dazzling magic light over
the world, with sparkling eyes. Oh, to be able to rush along like that
flash of lightning. It rushed out of the clouds down to the earth, tore
her lap open and buried itself in it.

His young blood, whose unused vitality quivered in his
clenched fists, his energy, which had not been spent on any work,
groaned aloud. All at once Wolfgang cursed his life. Oh, he ought to be
somewhere quite different, live at quite a different place, quite
different.

And even if he were not so comfortable there, let him only get away
from this place, away. It bored him so terribly to be here. He loathed
it. He drew a deep breath, oh, if only he had some work he would like
to do! That would tire him out, so that he had no other desire but to
eat and then sleep. Better to be a day labourer than one who sits
perched on a stool in an office and sees figures, nothing but figures
and accounts and ledgers and cash-books--oh, only not let him be a
merchant, no, that was the very worst of all.

Hitherto Wolfgang had never been conscious of the fact that he would
never be any good as a merchant; now he knew it. No, he did not like
it, he could not go on being a merchant. Everyone must surely become
what nature has meant him to be.

He would say it in the morning--no, he would not go to the office
any more, he would not do it any longer. He would be free. He leant out
of the window once more, and scented the damp, pleasant smell that rose
up out of the soaked earth with distended nostrils, panting greedily
like a thirsty stag.

The rain had come after the thunder and lightning, and had saturated
the thirsty earth and penetrated into it, filling all its pores with
fertility. It rained and rained uninterruptedly, came down in torrents
as if it would never end.

Something gave way in Wolfgang's soul; it became soft.

"Mother," he whispered dreamily, stretching out his hot hands so
that the cool rain bathed them. Then he stretched his head far out too,
closed his eyes and raised his head, so that the falling drops
refreshed his burning lids and the wide-open, thirsty lips
drank the