Felix Lanzberg's Expiation

me so unheedingly, I beg you!

ugh voice to a gentleman whose arm she h

ired officer; his wrinkles betray him to b

or so ago he was an admirer of hers, and remembers very distinctly that

n, and at the same time glances after a passing blonde chignon w

on with the yellow hair, eh? Dyed, my dear man, dyed, I assure you. It is not worth the trouble t

man has drawn her ex-adorer down on a bench in the meagre shade of a wa

them the sleepy stillness of a place where there

permissible in a watering-place, pass, some with arms bare to the elbo

ve, for at least the tenth time. "But how are you, pray tell me? No!

t a hundred paces looks like a young dandy; at twenty paces, at least like the mummy of one. Still he

ell me what is the news with you people in Marienbad? It i

from Franzensbad, is the presen

"A mill burned down yesterday, three

ary, horrible stories

ortunity of diversion thr

--and wh

urg's groom hung himself. P

Clémence is unfortunate!" say

e Colonel, and looks down indiffere

y s

ent. "Her last admirer, the Polish prince with the unpr

d with the mysteri

merely a politic sile

elightful! But do you know it positiv

ough hoops--she identified him at once. Famous story, quite famous." The Colonel rubs his hands with satisfaction--the old B

ncini, who permits herself to be as arrogant as a born

oker--or was in some banking busi

he will have to step d

e Colonel proudly, and smiling slyly. "A d

el

berg is to

t the Colonel, clutches his arm, and only after several s

s consider

ho

k ar

toilet, leans back among the cushions, the embodiment of dissatisfied indolence. A student with a bright red cap occupies the small seat opposite. On the box, usurping the coachman's raised seat, is a short individual with a crimson cravat between a blue shirt and purple face, a short, bright yellow foulard coat and large Panama hat. He smacks his lips incessantly at the horses, in driving holds

ness, raising her lorgnon, still wholly absorbe

future father-in

atically. "Poor Felix! He does

eauty, a truly aristocratic girl, and I do not believe that she will ever worry Lanzberg by especial clinging to her parenta

cries the old lady, animatedly. "Give me y

gives her his arm and walks on laughing and chatting, at the side of the col

pretty nickname. In consequence of her indestructible life at the cost of others--she was remarkably robust for her sixty-six years--she had been christened the "immortal Cantharide." Hungrily she crept from one house to another, gained admission by a budget of malicious news, which, as we have seen, she collected indefatigably, at times even invented. Sh

l walk, look weary, limp, and melancholy in their gay gowns, like flowers which a too hot sunbeam has withered and faded. They are worn, thin, and colorless, but for their toilets; but the transparent paleness of their faces, the excessive thinness of their f

s told. Hereupon the Baroness calls for coffee for two, and invites the Colonel in the most polite manner to sit beside her, and as he cannot deny that from this

on her pale face; a black lace scarf is twisted round her throat and tied in a careless knot behind. Her pale green dress clings tightly, and yet in folds around her figure. Near her walks a youn

her mouth full of bread,

call themselves by the predicate," replies the Colonel. "A cousin of Linda--very nice fellow--

ame evening to Marienbad, where they are staying, have left the park. Gazing down in coquettish silence at a rose in her

now cries a

d the approach of the so-long-awaited Countess Dey. Now he springs up, "falls at her feet, kis

orgnon at her eyes, indifferen

auty--Hopfing or Harpfink is her name, I believe. They s

e Colonel. "Curious match--wha

unfortunate as ever,

nd hisses: "What does it matter if a