"All of a sudden you are like another person. But it is becoming to you and I like you very much. Shall I tell you further?" "What?" "There is something alluring about you." "Oh, my only Geert, why, what you say is glorious. Now my heart is gladder than ever--Give me another half a cup--Do you know that that is what I have always desired? We women must be alluring, or we are nothing whatever." "Is that your own idea?" "I might have originated it, but I got it from Niemeyer." "From Niemeyer! My, oh my, what a fine pastor he is! Well, I just tell you, there are none like him here. But how did he come by it? Why, it seems as though some Don Juan, some regular heart smasher had said it." "Ah, who knows?" laughed Effi. "But isn't that Crampas coming there? And from the beach! You don't suppose he has been swimming? On the 27th of September!" "He often does such things, purely to make an impression." Crampas had meanwhile come up quite near and greeted them. "Good morning," cried Innstetten. "Come closer, come closer." Crampas, in civilian dress, approached and kissed Effi's hand. She went on rocking, and Innstetten said: "Excuse me, Major, for doing the honors of the house so poorly; but the veranda is not a house and, strictly speaking, ten o'clock in the morning is no time. At this hour we omit formalities, or, if you like, we all make ourselves at home. So sit down and give an account of your actions. For by your hair,--I wish for your sake there were more of it--I see plainly you have been swimming." He nodded. "Inexcusable," said Innstetten, half in earnest and half joking. "Only four weeks ago you yourself witnessed Banker Heinersdorf's calamity. He too thought the sea and the magnificent waves would respect him on account of his millions. But the gods are jealous of each other, and Neptune, without any apparent cause, took sides against Pluto, or at least against Heinersdorf." Crampas laughed. "Yes, a million marks! If I had that much, my dear Innstetten, I should not have risked it, I presume; for beautiful as the weather is, the water was only 9° centigrade. But a man like me, with his million deficit,--permit me this little bit of boasting--a man like me can take such liberties without fearing the jealousy of the gods. Besides, there is comfort in the proverb, 'Whoever is born for the noose cannot perish in the water.'" "Why, Major," said Effi, "you don't mean to talk your neck into--excuse me!--such an unprosaic predicament, do you? To be sure, many believe--I refer to what you just said--that every man more or less deserves to be hanged. And yet, Major--for a major--"