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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><IMG alt="" hspace=0
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The third, on the other hand, held out his lookand
paid it back in kind.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For what had oncesatisfied her was no longer
enough.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Whowas Paulchen that he should demand such a
sacrifice?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>About aweek or ten days ago, if my memory serves
me. But she had, it seemed, her own ideas of honesty.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>She had afat, foolish face, on which the one-time
dimples had run to lines. But, on their way home, he halted on the wooden bridge
that spanned themilky-green alpine river. Yes, that word fitted her best: stupid she
was, and stupid sheremained.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mysterious depths inthese eyes there were
none.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now whod ever have thought the old stick had so
much feeling in her! Thosethat fell like smitten doves, only to flutter up again a
second later.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What had it ever done for her, but
robher?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And then it was, in handling the letters, that
theforgotten proofs caught his eye. It was a very childs way of weeping;she made no
attempt to hide them, or to wipe them away. Butshe could not escape: her hand was
held in a vice.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>His coffee gulped down, he went outand back on his
steps of the day before. She had afat, foolish face, on which the one-time dimples
had run to lines.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>They lay just as on the day Elsa wastaken ill,
virgin-pure of ink-mark or correction. A straw driven before thewind; a null; a
parasite at lifes board.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>He felt her lips move, andbending, caught the
words: Oh, Ive been so . Hence, his original scheme, of snatching what he wanted and
letting hergo, came to nothing. Sulkily, unwillingly, she crossed to his side. With
a nature such as this he did not know how todeal.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hence, his original scheme, of snatching what he
wanted and letting hergo, came to nothing.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>He was like a man whostood waiting, with every
nerve on end, for a bomb that is timed to fall. To which, though her lips were still
a-twitch and a-tremble,she made a brave effort to respond.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And admitting this broughton a fit of restlessness,
in which he tumbled and tossed.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now, thedays to come yawned empty as untenanted
space. The third, on the other hand, held out his lookand paid it back in
kind.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And he did not so much as turn his head after her,
thoughshe had been both young and winsome.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Whowas Paulchen that he should demand such a
sacrifice? Still more startled was she by Annemaries sudden dash from theroom, and
the click of a turned key. Beforehim, on the whitewashed wall, the tiny,
flower-encumbered windowprinted a silver square.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>But in her, too, her tears set something
free.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The one who came to take his order wasgiggling;
giggling when she planked his KRUG down on its mat.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ill give what I am bound to give, but no more; the
rest is my own. There was nothing leftfor her to do but weep, and weep she did; he
had never seen such tears. Or only thatof his watch which, hanging above his head,
had suddenly begun afrenzied ticking. And this time the loss hit him harder than
ever before. She had also learnt what it meant to care for a little child.
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