give our child a kiss as well."

And the man also bent down. His wife threw her arm round his neck
and drew his head still further down quite close to hers. Then the
child laid the one arm round his neck and the other round hers.

They were all three so close to each other in that calm summer
night, in which all the stars were gleaming and the moonbeams building
silver bridges from the peaceful heavens down to the peaceful
earth.

CHAPTER VII

Those were days of the purest happiness at the Schliebens'. The villa
had been bought now, some rooms had been built on to it, and another
piece of land had been added to the garden as a play-ground. They could
not think of not giving the boy sufficient space to romp about in. Some
sand was brought there, a heap as high as a dune in which to dig. And
when he was big enough to do gymnastics they got him a swing and
horizontal and parallel bars.

But still it was not sufficient. He climbed over all the fences
round the neighbouring villas, over all the walls that were protected
by barbed wire and pieces of glass.

"A splendid lad," said Dr. Hofmann when he spoke _of_ Wolfgang. When
he spoke _to_ him he certainly said: "What a little ruffian you are!
Just you wait till you go to school and they'll soon teach you to sit
still."

Wolf was wild--rather too wild, his mother considered. The boy's
high spirits amused her husband: that was because there was such a
large amount of surplus energy in him. But Kate felt somewhat surprised
at so much wildness--no, she was not really surprised, she knew too
well where all that wildness came from; it frightened her.

She did not scold him when he tore his trousers--oh, they
could be replaced--but when he came home with the first hole in his
head she became incredibly agitated. She scolded him angrily, she
became unjust. She was quite unable to stop the blood--ugh, how it
ran!--she felt as if she were going to have a fit; she dragged herself
into her room with difficulty and remained sitting silently in a
corner, her eyes staring into space.

When her husband reproached her for exaggerating in that manner, she
never answered a word. Then he comforted her: she could feel quite easy
now, the thing was of no moment, the hole was sewn up and the lad as
happy as though it had never happened.

But she shuddered nervously and her cheeks were pale. Oh, if Paul
knew what she had been thinking of, was forced to think of the whole
time!