ings them to an exact
correspondence."

"I don't believe it."

"You will see it with your own eyes, and the same will be the case with
us. We began, like the pendulums, to swing in opposite directions; but
we shall have, like them, to come into harmony. To be sure, two
pendulums never tick precisely together, so as to give but one tone. A
Spanish king once went mad, trying to make them."

"What do I care for all your mad stories? You, apparently, have time
for such nonsense; I have not."

In a few days the two pendulums swung together, but the hearts of
husband and wife held each its own accustomed motion. There were times
when that miracle of the one stroke which no work of human hand could
accomplish seemed about to come to pass. But it was only seeming, and
made the reality all the harder.

Lenz meant to be yielding, but in reality held fast to his old ways.
Annele had no intention of making concessions. She knew better than her
husband from the start; for had she not had experience in all the ways
of the world? Had not men from all countries, old and young, rich and
poor, told her from her childhood that her mind was as bright and clear
as the day?

Annele's character might be concisely, though not perhaps quite
accurately, described as superficial. She took life easily, was capable
and active, with great fluency of speech, which she abundantly
exercised; but when her chat was over she never gave a second thought
to what she had said or heard.

Lenz's character was deep and solid; but cautious even to timidity. He
handled the world like a piece of delicate machinery, treating even the
most indifferent concerns with the conscientious exactitude of his
trade,--or his art, as he preferred to call it.

Annele, when nothing was going on about her, had nothing to say; while
Lenz's communicativeness increased with the quiet of his life. Whenever
Lenz talked, he stopped working; Annele, on the contrary, kept both
tongue and hands busy at the same moment.

Annele liked to tell her dreams; and wonderful dreams she had,--such as
driving in a beautiful carriage, drawn by superb horses, through a
magnificent country, with the merriest of companions; and every other
minute she would exclaim, "Dear me, what a good time we had!" Or she
had dreamed she was the landlady of a great hotel, and kings and
princes had driven up to her door, to all of whom she had given a ready
answer. Lenz cared nothing for dreams, and did not