there sits a man; and when I have
stopped talking everything is different, everything is as if a year had
passed by, and everything is irrevocable. Show me a way to humanity, to
men, and then I will believe in God."

The Baron's head swam; his brain felt close; it seemed to be sultry,
stuffy in his skull. He could not help but think of certain exciting
meetings where the people had sat in the dark in trembling expectancy
and then suddenly heard a voice from beyond the tomb at the sound of
which the marrow froze in their bones. He hardly dared look at the place
where Daniel was sitting. The words of the musician caused him infinite
pain: there lay in them a greediness, a shamelessness, and a
gruesomeness that filled him with terror.

He could almost have asked: And Eleanore? And Eleanore?

But however much he felt repelled, owing to his training, association,
and general views of life, there was nevertheless something about the
whole situation before which he bowed. He could not have said precisely
what it was, but it seemed to be a compromise between fear and
convulsion.

As he was pondering over it all, he heard a rattling at the window. He
looked up, and saw the face of Herr Carovius pressed so tightly against
the pane that his nose was as flat as a pancake, while his glasses
looked like two opalescent grease spots on the water.

Daniel also looked up; he too saw the face of Herr Carovius, then
distorted with wrath and filled with threats. He looked at the Baron in
amazement; the latter got up and said: "You will have to pardon the
annoyance; I forgot to draw the blinds."

With that he went to the window, and pulled down the dark shade over the
face of Herr Carovius.

XII

That same night, just as Daniel was crossing the hall of his apartment,
he detected a strong scent of flowers. He had smelt them before, but
they had never seemed to be so fragrant as at present. Because of the
season of the year, the sensation was all the more pronounced and
unusual.

He sniffed around for a while, and then saw that the door to Eleanore's
room was open: her light was shining out on the stairs.

When Daniel was not at home of an evening, Eleanore always kept her door
open so that she could hear when he came in. Daniel was unaware of this;
he had never seen the light on any previous night.

He thought for a moment, then locked the door, and went up the stairs.
But Eleanore must have