he world for the purpose of wearing
a court-dress, she might be unhappy, but loftily so; she could look
upon herself as a fair flower-crowned victim, suffer with patience,
bewail her fate, be on a pinnacle in fact, a being ever debarred from
the noblest emotions of the heart. But by the side of the husband she
has, she grows constantly more odious, more insignificant. He
humiliates her by casting her into the shade; nay, more: by condemning
her immature ideas only by a raising of his eyebrows. In fact,--she
does not, I think, acknowledge it to herself,--she hates her husband
for making solemn earnest of her light trifling with intellectual and
moral things; he compels her to acknowledge mistakes and follies, and
severely enough is he punished for doing so. I understand now the fable
of the Harpies. The modern harpies besmear every noble thought till it
becomes unpalatable and nauseous; and thus must Clodwig wrestle and
fight for the common daily bread of the spirit. With all this, she is
not without nobleness; she likes to help the sick, only is somewhat
despotic in recommending her remedies. But do you know what the most
dangerous thing about Frau Bella is?"

"Indeed I do not; I cannot imagine what climax you have yet to reach."

"A very simple one. We hear the devil talked about in the churches,
but in these days he appears as a very complaisant, very noble and
self-sacrificing demon, who comes to us and says,--Here, you are the
friend of this woman; avail yourself of her esteem for you, her
confidence in you, to put her in the right frame of mind; you must
teach her to appreciate her husband, to honor him as he desires to be
honored. This sophistical demon seems to be very subtle, but is really
the clumsiest of all; for never did one human being learn to value
another, least of all, a wife her husband, through a third person's
influence. There is a final impulse of life, and a final impulse of
love, which must come from the person himself; and where that does not
exist, the tongues of angels would be employed in vain. Have you seen
the head of Medusa? The ancients esteemed the victory over Medusa to be
the greatest achievement of Theseus; she is poisonous beauty. In
ancient times she hardened men to stone, in modern, she softens them
into effeminacy. I have a special hatred against this Frau Bella; do
you know why? Because she makes a hypocrite of me every time I go to
Wolfsgarten. I have no business to be so polite