or that, how many pounds of false hair she wears.
If she can say that any woman is scrofulous, she is quite happy; for
she would have only the Prankens perfectly sound. Once let her make an
assertion, and she never retreats from it; better that her husband,
Pranken, the whole world, should be illogical, than that she should be
mistaken. Bella von Wolfsgarten never allows herself to be mistaken.
She has never worn an unbecoming dress, has never said a word which
might not be engraved upon stone. That she calls character; that she
calls strength,--never to confess to a mistake. Let the logic of the
whole world go to the devil first! She can make the eggs dance nicely
in conversation. Did you ever receive one of her dainty little notes?
She can dance even upon paper with the most supple grace."

Eric passed his hand across his brow; he no longer knew where he was.
The Doctor threw away a half-smoked cigar, and continued:--

"The wicked world hopes, and, alas! its hopes cannot be fulfilled
without stabbing our noble Clodwig to the heart,--it hopes that this
dragon of virtue will one day find its unsaintly George. But that would
have to be a man whose ambition is, as we say, to be successful with
the women; not one to whom the words love, magnanimity, aspiration, are
realities, and who could not use them as a cloak for other ends."

Eric knew not what to answer. He clenched his fist to keep himself
still, for he felt himself trembling.

The Doctor pulled a string which brought the drag against the wheel;
the wagon went creaking and scraping down the hill; they looked over
the precipice, at the bottom of which a little brook was babbling over
rocks. Such an abyss had opened before Eric. When they were driving
again comfortably through the valley, the Doctor resumed:--

"When I say the wicked world, I am not using merely a figure of speech.
I must explain to you what this new variety is that I have discovered
in Frau Bella. It is this. There have been, and there exist still, many
women who are, or who imagine themselves to be, no matter which, very
unhappy, or consider themselves very unfortunate because they have such
inferior husbands,--men who love horses, dogs, and such like, while
they themselves are lofty, unappreciated, ethereal souls. This new
variety, however, which Frau Bella represents, is different. She is
unhappy because of the greatness of her husband. Had she one of those
well-trained puppets which are in t