me happy. Nothing half-and-half or
intermediate will satisfy me."

Irma's tone was so determined that the baron saw how thoroughly in
earnest she was, and that her words meant more than mere caprice or
sport.

"I must either subject myself to the world," said she, "or, despising
it, put it beneath me. I must either be perfectly indifferent and
regardless of the impression I produce upon others, or else afraid of
every glance, even my own."

The baron was silent, and evidently at a loss for words.

At last he said:

"I would gladly have gone to your father's house, but I know that he
dislikes men of my class. I waited for you here, knowing that you would
come to your friend. Pray answer me another question: Do you intend to
return to court?"

"Yes," said Irma, now, for the first time, firmly resolved upon
returning. "It were ungrateful to act otherwise. Ungrateful to the
queen and to--the king and all my friends. I feel sure, my friend, that
I am not yet mature enough to lead a life in which nothing happens."

They came to a seat.

"Will you not sit down with me?" said Irma to the baron.

They seated themselves.

"When did you leave the capital?"

"Five days ago."

"And was everything going on as usual?"

"Alas, not everything. Doctor Gunther has met with a sad affliction.
Professor Korn, his son-in-law, died suddenly, having poisoned himself
while dissecting a corpse."

"While dissecting a corpse?" exclaimed Irma. "We all die of the poison
of decay, but not so suddenly; those on yonder island and we--all of
us."

"You are very bitter."

"Not at all. My head is filled with the strangest fancies. I became
acquainted with a great law over there.

"The law of renunciation?"

"Oh, no; the justification of fashion."

"You are mocking."

"By no means. Fashion is the charter of human liberty and the journal
of fashion is humanity's greatest boon."

"What an odd conceit!"

"Not at all. It is the simple truth. The frequency with which a man
changes the material, cut and color of his clothes, proves his claim to
culture. It is man alone who constantly clothes himself differently and
anew. The tree retains its bark, the animal its hide, and, as the
national and clerical costumes are both stereotyped, as it were, those
who use them are regarded as belonging to an inferior, or less
civilized class."

The baron looked at Irma, wonderingly. He was glad at heart, that she
had candidly given him the mit