essed by fixed ideas bored into
them, can only end in unpleasantness--a row. He had come to Germany
to learn. It would be defeating this purpose to air what notions he
might have.

In Villa Elsa itself a good deal of the feasting in April and May
was carried on in the garden where flowers and dogs completed the
picture, together with much open-air singing accompanied by the
piano up in the salon. Were it not for the musical cult, it would
have been difficult, Gard had concluded, to live in this household.
As Anderson said, music had in a degree tamed the German "beast" of
the north and made it possible to get on with him at all. Music
rather than woman, religion, or the ideal of social intercourse,
had partly softened him.

The Bucher sons liked to come to table outdoors with spurs or side
arms, and the Herr's favorite hunting equipment was often in
evidence, recalling to him days of valiant sport. With their stiff
and long strides they affected to be larger, greater, than other
males. Supermen in the form of Goliaths! The women loved the sight
of such warlike paraphernalia. Such things added zest to the joyous
toast--Der Tag! But none of these heroes had yet killed anyone or
anything, so far as Kirtley discovered.

In warm weather Villa Elsa did not relax in the matter of six daily
repasts. Breakfast at half-past seven. Bread, slices of cold meat
and something in addition, at eleven. Luncheon at one, hearty enough
for a dinner. At half-past four _helles_ beer and tea with
_Butterbrods_. Dinner at seven. And on going to bed a fortifying
supper of pigs' feet, sausage, cheese and other man-like delicacies,
flooded with potations.

Gard had, after the months, adjusted himself somewhat to these
conditions. He had become, he _thought_, more used to the German
way of living. To get the best out of it, he realized that one must
coarsen instead of refine the senses and aptitudes. Instincts should
be strengthened, roughened, rather than checked or made more
esthetic. The German puts a heavy hand on things. He takes big bites
at existence. Thunderous might envelops and clouds his idea of
perfection.

CHAPTER XXXI

A CASUAL TRAGEDY

One morning early in June when Kirtley, who had been away the
afternoon and evening before, came down to breakfast, he found the
household upset. Something bad had happened. Tekla was gone. Rudi
was not to be seen. Frau had prepared a partial meal and Elsa was
making ready to sweep