"But, indeed, you know absolutely nothing about men," replied Frau Rupius, as if she were annoyed. "You haven't, you know, the slightest idea among what kind of people you are living. I can assure you, you have no reason at all to be proud." "I know, of course, that it is very stupid of me." "Your sister-in-law--that is delightful!--your sister-in-law!" "What do you mean, then?" "I mean that she has had a lover too!" "Whatever put such an idea as that into your head!" "Well, she is not the only woman in this town." "Yes, there are certainly women who ... but, Albertine--" "And do you know who it was? That is very amusing! It was Herr Klingemann!" "No, that is impossible!" "Of course, it is now a long time ago, about ten or eleven years." "But at that time, by the way, you yourself had not come to live here, Frau Rupius!" "Oh, I have heard it from the best source. It was Herr Klingemann himself who told me about it." "Herr Klingemann himself! But is it possible for a man to be so base as all that!" "I don't think there's the least doubt about that," answered Frau Rupius, sitting down on a seat near the door, whilst Bertha remained standing beside her, listening in amazement to her friend's words. "Yes, Herr Klingemann himself.... As soon as I came to the town, you must know, he did me the honour of making violent love to me, neck or nothing, so to speak. You know yourself, of course, what a loathsome wretch he is. I laughed him to scorn, which probably exasperated him a great deal, and evidently he thought that he would be able conclusively to prove to me how irresistible he was by recounting all his conquests." "But perhaps he told you some things which were not true." "A great deal, probably; but this story, as it happens, is true.... Ah, what a rabble these men are!" There was a note of the deepest hatred in Frau Rupius' voice. Bertha was quite frightened. She had never thought it possible that Frau Rupius could have said such things. "Yes, why shouldn't you know what kind of men they are amongst whom you are living?" continued Frau Rupius. "No, I would never have thought it possible! If my brother-in-law knew about it!--" "If he knew about it? He knows about it as well as you or I do!" "What do you say! No, no!" "Indeed, he caught them together--you understand me! Herr Klingemann and Albertine! So that, however much inclined he might have been to make the best of things, there was no doubt possible!" "But, for Heaven's sake--what did he do, then?" "Well, as you can see for yourself, he has not turned her out!" "Well, yes, the children ... of course!"