e, seemingly undecided whether or not he should attempt to allay
all these fears. Finally he made up his mind to ignore them. "You are
quite right, Effi, we can shorten the long curtains upstairs. But
there is no hurry about it, especially as it is not certain whether it
will do any good. It may be something else, in the chimney, or a worm
in the wood, or a polecat. For we have polecats here. But, in any
case, before we undertake any changes you must first examine our whole
house, under my guidance; that goes without saying. We can do it in a
quarter of an hour. Then you make your toilette, dress up just a
little bit, for in reality you are most charming as you are now. You
must get ready for our friend Gieshuebler. It is now past ten, and I
should be very much mistaken in him if he did not put in his
appearance here at eleven, or at twelve at the very latest, in order
most devotedly to lay his homage at your feet. This, by the way, is
the kind of language he indulges in. Otherwise he is, as I have
already said, a capital man, who will become your friend, if I know
him and you aright."

CHAPTER VIII

It was long after eleven, but nothing had been seen of Gieshuebler as
yet. "I can't wait any longer," Geert had said, whose duties called
him away. "If Gieshuebler comes while I am gone, receive him as kindly
as possible and the call will go especially well. He must not become
embarrassed. When he is ill at ease he cannot find a word to say, or
says the queerest kind of things. But if you can win his confidence
and put him in a good humor he will talk like a book. Well, you will
do that easily enough. Don't expect me before three; there is a great
deal to do over across the way. And the matter of the room upstairs we
will consider further. Doubtless, the best thing will be to leave it
as it is."

With that Innstetten went away and left his young wife alone. She sat,
leaning back, in a quiet, snug corner by the window, and, as she
looked out, rested her left arm on a small side leaf drawn out of the
cylindrical desk. The street was the chief thoroughfare leading to the
beach, for which reason there was a great deal of traffic here in the
summer time, but now, in the middle of November, it was all empty and
quiet, and only a few poor children, whose parents lived in thatched
cottages clear at the further edge of the "Plantation" came clattering
by in their wooden shoes. But Effi felt none of this loneliness, for
h