ugh his reserve, he talked on, with heated
fluency; and the longer he spoke, the more he was carried away by his
grievances. For, all he had asked for, he assured his hearers, had been
peace and quiet--the peace necessary to important work. "Jesus and
Mary! Are a fellow's chief obligations not his obligations to himself?"
At the same time, it was not his intention to put any of the blame on
Lulu's shoulders: she couldn't help herself. "Lulu is Lulu. I'm damned
fond of Lulu, boys, and I've always done my best by her--is there
anyone here who wants to say I haven't?"

There was none; a chorus of sympathetic ayes went up from the party
that was drinking at his expense.

Mollified, he proceeded, asserting vehemently that he would have gone
miles out of his way to avoid causing Lulu pain. "I'm a soft-hearted
fool--I admit it!--where a woman is concerned." But he had yielded to
her often enough--too often--as it was; the time had come for him to
make a stand. Let those present remember what he had sacrificed only
that summer for Lulu's sake. Would anyone else have done as much for
his girl? He made bold to doubt it. For a man like Zeppelin to come to
him, and to declare, with tears in his eyes, that he could teach him no
more--could he afford to treat a matter like that with indifference?
Had he really been free to make a choice?

Again he looked round the table with emphasis, and those who had their
muscles sufficiently under control, hastened to lay their faces in
seemly folds.

Then, however, Schilsky's mood changed; he struck the table so that the
glasses danced. "And shall I tell you what my reward has been for not
going? Do you want to know how Lulu has treated me for staying on here?
'You are a quarter of an hour late: where have you been? You've only
written two bars since I saw you this morning: what have you been
doing? A letter has come in a strange writing: who is it from? You've
put on another tie: who have you been to see?' HIMMELSAKRAMENT!" He
drained his glass. "I've had the life of a dog, I tell you--of a dog!
There's not been a moment in the day when she hasn't spied on me, and
followed me, and made me ridiculous. Over every trifle she has got up a
fresh scene. She's even gone so far as to come to my room and search my
pockets, when she knew I wasn't at home."

"Yes, yes," sneered Krafft. "Exactly! And so, gentlemen he was now for
slinking off without a word to her."

"Oh, PFUI!" spat the American.