one day made the actions of the next a necessity.

About the middle of the month there came invitations from the four
families with which the Innstettens associated most. They had agreed
upon the order in which they would entertain. The Borckes were to
begin, the Flemmings and Grasenabbs followed, the Gueldenklees came
last. Each time a week intervened. All four invitations came on the
same day. They were evidently intended to leave an impression of
orderliness and careful planning, and probably also of special
friendliness and congeniality.

"I shall not go, Geert, and you must excuse me in advance on the
ground of the treatment which I have been undergoing for weeks past."

Innstetten laughed. "Treatment. I am to blame it on the treatment.
That is the pretext. The real reason is you don't care to."

"No, I am more honest than you are willing to admit. It was your own
suggestion that I consult the doctor. I did so and now I must follow
his advice. The good doctor thinks I am anaemic, strangely enough, and
you know that I drink chalybeate water every day. If you combine this
in imagination with a dinner at the Borckes', with, say, brawn and eel
aspic, you can't help feeling that it would be the death of me. And
certainly you would not think of asking such a thing of your Effi. To
be sure, I feel at times--"

"I beg you, Effi."

"However, the one good thing about it is that I can look forward with
pleasure to accompanying you each time a part of the way in the
carriage, as far as the mill, certainly, or the churchyard, or even to
the corner of the forest, where the crossroad to Morgnitz comes in.
Then I can alight and saunter back. It is always very beautiful among
the dunes."

Innstetten was agreed, and when the carriage drove up three days later
Effi got in with her husband and accompanied him to the corner of the
forest. "Stop here, Geert. You drive on to the left now, but I am
going to the right, down to the beach and back through the
'Plantation.' It is rather far, but not too far. Dr. Hannemann tells
me every day that exercise is everything, exercise and fresh air. And
I almost believe he is right. Give my regards to all the company, only
you needn't say anything to Sidonie."

The drives on which Effi accompanied her husband as far as the corner
of the forest were repeated every week, but even on the intervening
days she insisted that she should strictly observe the doctor's
orders. Not a day passed that