But the little Frau seized the candle and went into the next room. The
children were all soundly sleeping. She stripped the mattress off the
baby's bed to see if he was still dry, then began unfastening her blouse
and skirt.

"Always the same," she said--"all over the world the same; but, God in
heaven--but STUPID.

Then even the memory of the wedding faded quite. She lay down on the bed
and put her arm across her face like a child who expected to be hurt as
Herr Brechenmacher lurched in.



6. THE MODERN SOUL.

"Good-evening," said the Herr Professor, squeezing my hand; "wonderful
weather! I have just returned from a party in the wood. I have been
making music for them on my trombone. You know, these pine-trees provide
most suitable accompaniment for a trombone! They are sighing delicacy
against sustained strength, as I remarked once in a lecture on wind
instruments in Frankfort. May I be permitted to sit beside you on this
bench, gnadige Frau?"

He sat down, tugging at a white-paper package in the tail pocket of his
coat.

"Cherries," he said, nodding and smiling. "There is nothing like cherries
for producing free saliva after trombone playing, especially after Grieg's
'Ich Liebe Dich.' Those sustained blasts on 'liebe' make my throat as dry