Soon after five o'clock she again set out to call on Herr Rupius. The maid admitted her. Herr Rupius himself wanted to speak to her. He was sitting in his easy-chair by the table. "Well?" asked Bertha. "The doctor is with her just at this moment--if you will wait a few minutes ..." Bertha did not venture to ask any questions, and both remained silent. After a few seconds, Doctor Friedrich came out from the bedroom. "Well, I cannot say anything definite yet," he said slowly; then, with a sudden resolution, he added: "Excuse me, Frau Garlan, but it is absolutely necessary for me to have a few words with Herr Rupius alone." Herr Rupius winced. "Then I won't disturb you," said Bertha mechanically, and she left them. But she was so agitated that it was impossible for her to go home, and she walked along the pathway leading between the vine-trellises to the cemetery. She felt that something mysterious was happening in that house. The thought occurred to her that Anna might, perhaps, have made an attempt to commit suicide. If only she did not die, Bertha said to herself. And immediately the thought followed: if only a nice letter were to come from Emil! She seemed to herself to be encompassed by nothing but dangers. She went into the cemetery. It was a beautiful, warm summer's day, and the flowers and blossoms were fragrant and fresh after the rain of the previous day. Bertha followed her accustomed path towards her husband's grave, but she felt that she had absolutely no object in going there. It was almost painful to her to read the words on the tombstone; they had no longer the least significance for her: "Victor Mathias Garlan, died the 6th June, 1895." It seemed to her, then, that any of her walks with Emil, which had happened ten years before, were nearer than the years she had spent by the side of her husband. Those years were as though they had not even existed ... she would not have been able to believe in them if Fritz had not been alive.... Suddenly the idea passed through her mind that Fritz was not Garlan's son at all ... perhaps he was really Emil's son.... Were not such things possible, after all?... And she felt at that moment that she could understand the doctrine of the Holy Ghost.... Then she was alarmed at the madness of her own thoughts.