She struggled through the door, a half-grown thing with plump red cheeks and smooth yellow hair. Diffident and frightened, she nevertheless began to flirt with Fritz. In front of her she held the long stems of the exotic lilies whose blossoms, like gigantic narcissi, brooded in star-like rest over chaste and alien dreams. From the middle of each chalice came a sharp, green shimmer which faded gently along the petals of the flowers. "Confound it, but they're beautiful!" cried Fritz. "Surely they have quite a peculiar significance." Niebeldingk arose, wrote the address without permitting John, who stood in suspicious proximity, to throw a glance at it, handed cards and flowers to the girl, gave her a tip, and escorted her to the door himself. "So they do mean something special?" Fritz asked eagerly. He couldn't get over his enthusiasm. "Yes, my boy." "And may one know...." "Surely, one may know. I give these lilies to that lady whose lofty purity transcends all doubt--I give them as a symbol of my chaste and desireless admiration." Fritz's eyes shone. "Ah, but I'd like to know a lady like that--some day!" he cried and pressed his hands to his forehead. "That will come! That will come!" Niebeldingk tapped the youth's shoulder calmingly. "Will you have some salad?" Chapter III. Around the hour of afternoon tea Niebeldingk, true to a dear, old habit, went to see his friend. She inhabited a small second-floor apartment in the _Regentenstrasse_ which he had himself selected for her when she came as a stranger to Berlin. With flowers and palms and oriental rugs she had moulded a delicious retreat, and before her bed-room windows the nightingales sang in the springtime. She seemed to be expecting him. In the great, raised bay, separated from the rest of the drawing-room by a thicket of dark leaves, the stout tea-urn was already expectantly humming. In a bright, girlish dress, devoid of coquetry or pouting, Alice came to meet him. "I'm glad you're here again, Richard." That was all. He wanted to launch out into the tale which he had meant to tell her, but she cut him short. "Since when do I demand excuses, Richard? You come and there you are. And if you don't come, I have to be content too." "You should really be a little less tolerant," he warned her. "A blessed lot it would help me," she answered merrily. Gently she took his arm and led him to his old place. Then silently, and with that restrained eagerness that characterised all her actions she busied herself with the tea-urn. His critical and discriminating gaze followed her movements. With swift, delicate gestures she pushed forward the Chinese dish, shook the tea from the canister and poured the first drops of boiling water through a sieve.... Her quick, bird-like head moved hither and thither, and the bow of the orange-coloured ribbon which surrounded her over-delicate neck trembled a little with every motion.