"I had let her arm slip out of mine and made my escape to the remotest room. There I threw myself upon a low sofa in a dark corner, and lay brooding over the grievous blunder I had committed. While I thought I was playing with a good-natured poodle-dog, I had been engaged with a formidable bear! They had represented this man to me as just as malicious as he was learned and witty. Would he not be sore to remember my sarcasms and bitter sayings in that evil hour when I was lying helpless on the examination-table, ready to be dissected? It was a desperate case. "I heard a noise near me, and raised my head--before me stood Professor Berger. I jumped up instantly. "'Allow me to sit down by you,' said the eccentric man, and sat down on the low sofa, beckoning me to follow his example. 'I like you, and I wish to become better acquainted with you. I am Professor Berger; whom have I the honor to address?' "'My name is Stein.' "'You are a student, or, rather, you have been a student. What have you studied?' "'I wish I could simply answer, Philology; but as that would not be exactly true, I can only say I would I had studied Philology.' "'How so?' "'Because then I would be less afraid of the honor of becoming better known to you.' "A smile played around the lips of the professor, passed up the cheek, and was lost in the corner of the right eye. "'You are a candidate for honors?' "'Yes; but with little hope.' "The smile came down again from the eye to the lips. "'And therefore you are frightened at seeing me, as Hamlet was before his father's ghost?' "'At least I do not see you very clearly.' "'Well, then, you see yourself that we must become better acquainted with each other. Will you come to-morrow evening, or some other evening, when you have time and inclination, and drink a glass of punch with me?' "Of course I did not refuse.