spoil his relations with Loulou. Now that the Ellrichs were gone, it
could for the moment do no harm.




CHAPTER II.

VANITIES OF VANITIES.


A brilliant company filled the Ellrichs' drawing-rooms. These lofty
rooms, thrown open to the guests, were more like the reception-rooms
in a great castle than those of a bourgeois townhouse in Berlin.

The councilor's drawing-rooms occupied the first floor of the
largest house in the Lannestrasse. The carpeted staircase was
decorated with plants and candelabra, and the guests were shown into
a well-lighted anteroom, and on through folding doors into the large
square drawing-room. The walls were covered with gold-framed
mirrors reflecting the great marble stove, with its Chinese bronze
ornaments; the Venetian glass chandelier, the painting on the
ceiling representing Apollo in his sun chariot, while the rows of
pretty gilt chairs in red silk, the palm trees in the corner, and
the wax candles in the brass sconces on the walls were repeated in
endless perspective. On the right was a little room not intended for
dancing, thickly carpeted, with old Gobelin tapestry on all the
walls and doors; inlaid tables, ebony tables, and silk, satin, and
tapestry in every conceivable form. A glass door, half-covered by a
portiere, gave a glimpse into a well-lighted winter garden, full of