But this was not how Kreisler felt about it. He was boiling and raging. That laugh had driven him foaming, fugitive and confused, into the nearest chair. He could not turn round and retaliate at the time. The door being in front of him, he vanished as Mephistopheles might sink with suddenness into the floor, at the receipt of some affront, to some sulphurous regions beneath, in a second; come to a stop alone, upright; stick his fingers in his mouth, nearly biting them in two, his eyes staring: so stand stock still, breathless and haggard for some minutes: then shoot up again, head foremost, in some other direction, like some darting and skulking fish, to the face of the earth. He did not even realize that the famous _contact_ was established, so furious was he. He would go and strike her across the mouth, spit in her face, kiss her in the middle of the dance, where the laugh had been! Yet he didn’t move, but sat on staring in front of him, quite forgetful where he was and how long he had sat there, in the midst of a hot riot of thoughts. He suddenly sat up and looked round, like a man who has been asleep and for whom work is waiting; got up with certain hesitation, and again made for the door. Well, life and work (_his_ business) must he proceeded with all the same. He glanced reflectively and solemnly about, and perceived the Widow talking to a little reddish Englishman. “May I take the Widow away for a little?” he asked her companion. He always addressed her as “Widow”: he began all his discourses with a solemn “Widow!” occasionally alternating it with “_Derelict!_” But this, all uttered in a jumbled tongue, lost some of its significance. The little Englishman on being addressed gave the English equivalent of a jump—a sudden moving of his body and shuffling of his feet, still looking at the floor, where he had cast his eyes as Kreisler approached. “What? I⸺” “Widow! permit me⸺” said Kreisler. Manipulating her with a leisurely gusto, he circled into the dance. The band was playing the “Merry Widow” valse. “_Merry_ Widow!” he said smilingly to his partner. “Yes, _Merry_ Widow!” shaking his head at her.