ght of meeting Benda filled him with a sense of shame, to which was
added a touch of bitterness as day after day passed by and Benda never
called or wrote. "It is all over," he thought, "he has forgotten me." He
would have liked to forget too; and he could have done it, for his mind
was wandering, restless, strayed.

One evening as he crossed the square he noticed that the windows of his
house were all brilliantly lighted. He went to the kitchen, where he
found Agnes at the table seeding plums.

"Who is here again?" he asked. One could hear laughter, loud and
boisterous, in the living room.

Agnes, scarcely looking up, reeled off the names: Councillor Finkeldey,
Herr von Ginsterberg, Herr Samuelsky, Herr Hahn, a strange man whose
name she did not know, Frau Feistelmann and her sister.

Daniel remained silent for a while. Then he went up to Agnes, put his
hand under her chin, lifted her head, and murmured: "And you? And you?"

Agnes frowned, and was afraid to look into his face. Suddenly she said:
"To-day is the anniversary of mother's death." With that she looked at
him fixedly.

"So?" said Daniel, sat down on the edge of the table, and laid his head
in his hand. Some one was playing the piano in the living room. Since
Daniel had taken the grand piano up to his room, Dorothea had rented a
small one. The rhythmical movement of dancing couples could be heard
quite distinctly.

"I'd like to leave this place," said Agnes, as she threw a worm-eaten
plum in the garbage can. "In Beckschlager Street there is a seamstress
who wants to teach me to sew."

"Why don't you go?" asked Daniel. "It would be a very sensible thing to
do. But what will Philippina say about it?"

"Oh, she doesn't object, provided I spend my evenings and Sundays with
her."

The front door bell rang, and Agnes went out: there was some one to see
Daniel. He hesitated, started toward the door, shook and stepped back,
seized with trembling hand the kitchen lamp in order to make certain
that he was not mistaken, for it was dark, but there could be no
mistake. It was Benda.

They looked at each other in violent agitation. Benda was the first to
reach out his hand; then Daniel reached out his. Something seemed to
snap within him. He became dizzy, his tall, stiff body swung back and
forth. Then he fell into the arms of his friend, whom he had lived
without for seventeen years.

Benda was not prepared for such a scene; he was unable to speak. Then
Dan