Ungrateful wretch that he was!

He had sought a home and not thought of the parrot who screamed out
his name in her dear dwelling. There was a parrot like that in the
world--and he wandered foolishly abroad. What madness! What baseness!

He would go to her at once.

But no! A merry thought struck him and a healing one.

He took the key from the wall and put it into his pocket.

He would go to her--at midnight.




Chapter IX.


He had definitely abandoned his club, the theatres were closed, the
restaurants were deserted, his brother's family was in the country. It
was not easy to pass the evening with that great resolve in his heart
and that small key in his pocket.

Until ten he drifted about under the foliage of the _Tiergarten_. He
listened to the murmur of couples who thronged the dark benches,
regarded those who were quietly walking in the alleys and found
himself, presently, in that stream of humanity which is drawn
irresistibly toward the brightly illuminated pleasure resorts.