t. But he was very fond of
her, and, as she continued mutely to implore forgiveness--she, Lulu,
his Lulu, whom every one envied him--his hasty anger once more
subsided; he put his arms round her and kissed her. She nestled in
against him, over-happy at his softening, and for some moments they
stood like this, in the absolute physical agreement that always
overcame their differences. In his arms, with her head on his shoulder,
she smoothed back his hair; and while she gazed, with adoring eyes, at
this face that constituted her world, she murmured words of endearment;
and all the unsatisfactory day was annulled by these few moments of
perfect harmony.

It was he who loosened his grasp. "Now, it's all right, isn't it? No
more tears. But you really must be off, or you'll be late."

"Yes. And you?"

He had taken up his violin and was tuning it, preparatory to playing
himself back into the mood she had dissipated. He ran his fingers up
and down, tried flageolets, and slashed chords across the strings.

But when she had sponged her face and pinned on her hat, he said, in
response to her beseeching eyes, which, as so often before, made the
granting of this one request, a touchstone of his love for her: "Look
here, Lulu, if I possibly can, I'll drop in at the end of the first
act. Look out for me then, in the FOYER."

And with this, she was forced to be content.

IX.

When, shortly after five o'clock, Madeleine and Maurice arrived at the
New Theatre, they took their places at the end of a queue which
extended to the corner of the main building; and before they had stood
very long, so many fresh people had been added to the line, that it had
lengthened out until it all but reached the arch of the theatre-cafe.
Dove was well to the fore, and would be one of the first to gain the
box-office. A quarter of an hour had still to elapse before the doors
opened; and Maurice borrowed his companion's textbook, and read
studiously, to acquaint himself with the plot of the opera. Madeleine
took out Wolzogen's FUHRER, with the intention of brushing up her
knowledge of the motives; but, before she had finished a page, she had
grown so interested in what two people behind her were saying that she
turned and took part in the conversation.

The broad expanse of the AUGUSTUSPLATZ facing the theatre was bare and
sunny. A policeman arrived, and ordered the queue in a straighter line;
then he strolled up and down, stroking and smoot