the child was doing. Herr Carovius buried his hands in
his overcoat pockets, and followed the mournful caravan out on to the
street. The poor woman was taken to the insane asylum at Erlangen.

Herr Carovius said to himself: somebody is responsible for all this. He
determined at once to bring the guilty party to account. He took this
stand neither out of grief nor from a feeling of love for his fellow
men. His action was motivated by his hatred of a world in which
something is constantly going on, and in the midst of which he was
condemned to an inactive and deedless life.

V

Not much could be learned from Doederlein's maid. The efforts to draw
something out of little Dorothea were also fruitless. She was wrapped up
in her own affairs. She arranged her ribbons, played with her toys,
recounted the small incidents of her uneventful life, and could hardly
be persuaded even to listen to the ingenious questions Carovius put to
her when he stopped her out in the hall and asked her about this and
that.

One day he went over to Erlangen to visit his sister in the insane
asylum. He thought that he might be able to get some clue to this
mystery from her.

He found her sitting in the corner of a room, stroking her long,
yellowish hair. Her head was bowed; her eyes were fixed on the floor.
Through no cunning that he could devise was it possible to entice a
single statement from her.

The physician said: "She is a harmless patient, but most secretive and
passionate. She must have suffered for years from some heavy burden on
her soul."

Herr Carovius left her, and went back to the station. The sun was
shining bright. He soon saw to his infinite discomfort that it was
impossible to eliminate the picture of the melancholy woman from his
inner eye. He went into a cafe and drank some whiskey. On the return
journey an old woman sat opposite him who seemed to understand him.
There was a trace of compassion in her eyes. This made him so uneasy
that he found it necessary to change his seat.

He had met with unanticipated difficulties in his investigation. He
recognised these fully, but consoled himself with the thought that there
was still time. It occurred to him that he might somehow get hold of Dr.
Benda and cross-question him. He recalled having seen Friedrich Benda
meet little Dorothea on the stairway once, and no sooner had he seen her
coming than he made every effort to avoid her. That se