?'" inquired the latter, when they were
alone in the street again.

"You shall soon see for yourself. We come together once a month and
attempt to delude ourselves into the idea that it is possible in the
midst of this world to throw off the hypocrisy of society, and return
once more to a state of innocence. And for a few years past we have
really been fairly successful. A little group of good fellows has been
brought together, who are all equally impressed with the worthlessness
of our social state. But, after all, the German is not a social
creature; that which constitutes the charm of such societies among the
Latins and Slavs--the delight in talking for talking's sake, a certain
delicacy in lying, and, moreover, an early-acquired and really humane
tact and consideration for one's neighbors--all this we may possibly
gain in time in some of our large cities. But for the time being it is
certainly foreign to the genius of our nation, and it is only feebly
developed. The consequence is that in this city of art, where of all
the arts that of sociability is most behindhand, one has to choose
between two evils: the conventional society entertainments, which are
chiefly devoted to eating and drinking, and where one is seldom
compensated for the constraint of cultivated _ennui_; or else
Philistinism over the beer-table. For this reason we have adopted
another plan, which, to be sure, can only be successful when all those
who take part in it are united by the same longing for freedom, and the
same respect for the freedom of their neighbors. For, when no one wraps
a cloak about him, but shows himself unrestrainedly just as he is, no
one, on the other hand, has a right to pounce maliciously on the weak
spots which his neighbor may possibly expose--and each must, upon the
whole, be so constituted that he can show himself in his true character
without being disagreeable."

CHAPTER X.

In the first days of his wanderings through the quaint old streets--for
he avoided, as far as possible, the new and deserted quarters of the
town--Felix felt to the full the charm of South German life; that
robust, unrestrained power of enjoyment, that perpetual holiday-mood,
whose motto is "You may do what you choose." That this cheerful state
also has its dark sides; that it is not possible, without the sacrifice
of some higher benefits, to establish an average of character and
education which makes all cla