You ought to have seen her then. Her first answer was a saucy laugh.
Why, she said, her cousin was really only a big cadet in lieutenant's
uniform. And she could not even love a cadet, to saying nothing of
marrying one. Then she spoke of Innstetten, who suddenly became for
her a paragon of manly virtues."

"How do you explain that?"

"It's quite simple. Lively, emotional, I might almost say, passionate
as she is, or perhaps just because she is so constituted, she is not
one of those who are so particularly dependent upon love, at least not
upon what truly deserves the name. To be sure, she speaks of love,
even with emphasis and a certain tone of conviction, but only because
she has somewhere read that love is indisputably the most exalted,
most beautiful, most glorious thing in the world. And it may be,
perhaps, that she has merely heard it from that sentimental person,
Hulda, and repeats it after her. But she does not feel it very deeply.
It is barely possible that it will come later. God forbid. But it is
not yet at hand."

"Then what is at hand? What ails her?"

"In my judgment, and according to her own testimony, she has two
things: mania for amusement and ambition."

"Well, those things can pass away. They do not disturb me."

"They do me. Innstetten is the kind of a man who makes his own career.
I will not call him pushing, for he is not, he has too much of the
real gentleman in him for that. Let us say, then, he is a man who will
make his own career. That will satisfy Effi's ambition."

"Very well. I call that good."

"Yes, it is good. But that is only the half. Her ambition will be
satisfied, but how about her inclination for amusement and adventure?
I have my doubts. For the little entertainment and awakening of
interest, demanded every hour, for the thousand things that overcome
ennui, the mortal enemy of a spiritual little person, for these
Innstetten will make poor provision. He will not leave her in the
midst of an intellectual desert; he is too wise and has had too much
experience in the world for that, but he will not specially amuse her
either. And, most of all, he will not even bother to ask himself
seriously how to go about it. Things can go on thus for a while
without doing much harm, but she will finally become aware of the
situation and be offended. And then I don't know what will happen. For
gentle and yielding as she is, she has, along with these qualities, a
certain inclination to fly i