ee: oh, how splendid it was, oh, what a fine time they
would have. Wolfgang had gone to the expense of taking a cab; he and
Frida sat on the front seat, the two others opposite them on the back
seat, and they had driven round the green, green wood, had paid a visit
to this and that place of amusement, had gone on a roundabout and in
a boat and into the booth where they were playing with dice. Wolfgang
was very polite, Frida always got leave to throw them again and
again; a butter dish of blue glass, a glazed paper-bag full of
gingerbread nuts, but above all a little dicky-bird in a tiny wooden
cage made her extremely happy. Hans was allowed to carry it all, whilst
she and Wolfgang rushed along on the walk home from Schildhorn,
chaffing each other. Her sweetheart did not disturb them. Hans had
foregone the pleasure of having his Frida on his arm from the
commencement; everybody might easily have thought the well-dressed
young gentleman was her lover. But when she lost her breath entirely
and was red and dishevelled, and the dusk, which came on somewhat
earlier in the wood among the trees that stood so close together, made
her shudder a little and filled her with a delicious fear, she hung on
her Hans's arm as a matter of course. They remained a little behind the
others.

Then Wolfgang was alone, for he did not count Artur, although he
walked beside him stumbling over the roots and whistling shrilly. And
Wolfgang envied fat Hans at whom they had all laughed so much, the girl
he was engaged to more than anyone else. He also wanted to have a girl
hanging on his arm. It need not even be such a nice-looking girl as
Frida--as long as it was a girl. The dusk of the wood, which was so
nice and quiet, seemed positively to hold out inviting arms to him. And
a smell of satiation, an abundant fulfilment, rose out of the earth
that evening, although it was so poor--nothing but sand. Wolfgang felt
a wish to live and love, an eager desire for pleasure and enjoyment. If
he had had Frida near him now, he would have seized hold of her, have
clasped her in his arms, have quickly closed her mouth with kisses and
not let her go again.

He could not contain himself any longer, he had to seize hold of
Artur, at any rate, and waltz with him along the sandy path
through the wood, so that the lanky youth, who had already run to so
many customers to shave them that day, could neither see nor hear. All
the other people stopped; such sights were n