coming--"

"Trippelli? Then I am superfluous."

"By no means, your Ladyship. Miss Trippelli cannot sing from one
Sunday till the next; it would be too much for her and for us. Variety
is the spice of life, a truth which, to be sure, every happy marriage
seems to controvert."

"If there are any happy marriages, mine excepted," and she held out
her hand to Innstetten.

"Variety then," continued Crampas. "To secure it for ourselves and our
club, of which for the time being I have the honor to be the
vice-president, we need the help of everybody who can be depended
upon. If we put our heads together we can turn this whole place upside
down. The theatrical pieces have already been selected--_War in Peace,
Mr. Hercules, Youthful Love,_ by Wilbrandt, and perhaps _Euphrosyne_,
by Gensichen. You as Euphrosyne and I middle-aged Goethe. You will be
astonished to see how well I can act the prince of poets, if act is
the right word."

"No doubt. In the meantime I have learned from the letter of my
alchemistic correspondent that, in addition to your other
accomplishments, you are an occasional poet. At first I was
surprised."

"You couldn't see that I looked the part."

"No. But since I have found out that you go swimming at 9 deg. I have
changed my mind. Nine degrees in the Baltic Sea beats the Castalian
Fountain."

"The temperature of which is unknown."

"Not to me; at least nobody will contradict me. But now I must get up.
There comes Roswitha with little Annie."

She arose and went toward Roswitha, took the child, and tossed it up
with pride and joy.

CHAPTER XVI

[For the next few weeks Crampas came regularly every morning to gossip
a while with Effi on the veranda and then ride horseback with her
husband. Finally she desired to ride with them and, although
Innstetten did not approve of the idea, Crampas secured a horse for
her. On one of their rides Crampas let fall a remark about how it
bored him to have to observe such a multitude of petty laws. Effi
applauded the sentiment. Innstetten took the Major to task and
reminded him that one of his frivolous escapades had cost him an arm.
When the election campaign began Innstetten; could no longer take the
time for the horseback rides, and so Effi went out with Crampas,
accompanied by two lackeys. One day, while riding slowly through the
woods, Crampas spoke at length of Innstetten's character, telling how
in earlier life the councillor was more respected