"That will come! That will come!" Niebeldingk tapped the youth's
shoulder calmingly.

"Will you have some salad?"




Chapter III.


Around the hour of afternoon tea Niebeldingk, true to a dear, old
habit, went to see his friend.

She inhabited a small second-floor apartment in the _Regentenstrasse_
which he had himself selected for her when she came as a stranger to
Berlin. With flowers and palms and oriental rugs she had moulded a
delicious retreat, and before her bed-room windows the nightingales
sang in the springtime.

She seemed to be expecting him. In the great, raised bay, separated
from the rest of the drawing-room by a thicket of dark leaves, the
stout tea-urn was already expectantly humming.

In a bright, girlish dress, devoid of coquetry or pouting, Alice came
to meet him.

"I'm glad you're here again, Richard."