the glass
he could say with perfect self-satisfaction, that he looked just as
much like an officer as the men in uniform, not even excepting those of
the Guard. Since the campaign of 1866, in which Paul had served in the
same company as Wilhelm, they had been firm friends, and on this
evening he wished to offer his respects before the manifest possessor
of her heart, to one of the greatest heiresses in Berlin, also his
gratitude for his introduction to this splendid house, and his tender
feelings for his comrade. In spite of being occupied with his partners
he had time to observe Wilhelm, and the sight of him standing alone in
the window recess immediately cooled the nervous excitement wrought by
the crowd of strangers. These society gatherings were what he delighted
in, and he thought it his duty to try to model his friend in the same
way. It was not without a struggle with himself that he let a dance go
by and went over to where Wilhelm stood.

"What a great pity it is that you don't dance."

"Fraulein Ellrich has just said the same thing," answered Wilhelm,
smiling a little.

"And she is quite right. You are like a thirsty man beside a delicious
spring, and are not able to drink. It is pure Tantalus."

"Your analogy does not hold good. What I am looking at does not give me
the sensation of a delicious spring, and does not make me thirsty."

Paul looked at him surprised. "Still you are a man of flesh and blood,
and the sight of all these charming girls must give you pleasure."

"You know I am engaged to only one girl here, and her I have seen under
more favorable circumstances."

"Well! She probably does not always wear such beautiful dresses, and if
she were not excited by the music and dancing her eyes might possibly
not sparkle so much; that is what I mean about its being a pity that
you don't dance."

"That is not it. I have seen this beautiful girl on other occasions
engaged in the highest intellectual occupation, and I am sorry to see
her sink to this sort of thing."

"Now the difference is defined. I was silly enough till now to think
that even in a drawing-room one saw something of the highest form of
humanity, and that aristocratic society is the flower of civilization."

"Those are opinions which are spread by clever men of the world to
excuse their shallow behavior in their own eyes and in the eyes of
others. What these people come here for is to satisfy their lower
inclinations--you must see th