"That's because he--I found it all out later--was tutor to some Jews who rented a place near Breslau; but they soon gave him the sack for his impudence." In the midst of her agony of disillusionment Lilly could not help laughing shrilly. "That's capital!" her friend approved. "You can think yourself fortunate. If only someone had come and warned me! for afterwards, how it hurts!" "What happens afterwards?" Lilly asked, hesitating. "It's very simple _afterwards_. When he's got what he wants, it's over. He buttons up his coat, says in a voice of deep emotion, '_Au revoir_'; but it never comes, his _au revoir_. You never see him again." "That isn't true; it can't be true!" cried Lilly in horror. "Surely no man can be such a cur to a woman!" "You--never--see--him--again," repeated Frau Jula. "Why should you? The creature has other matters of more importance to attend to. I wrote my fingers to the bone. Not a line in response!... There's no getting at him. Frau Welter lay on his doorstep, Karla got the jaundice from fury, and so on. But the man's an eel. Later, if you meet him at a carousal, there's not the faintest recollection in his eyes ... he just treats you as he treats the rest." Startled, Lilly recalled how she too had adopted a like course of action, and appeared at a carousal without betraying the slightest memory of what had passed before, although he had turned on her petitioning tragi-comical glances. Yes, everyone was as bad as everyone else in this world, in which one cast off one's dignity like a worn-out dress. She buried her face in the sofa-corner, overcome with shame and consciousness of guilt. "Never mind," comforted Frau Jula. "It's all right now." And then there was a ring. Lilly rushed to the door to give instructions as before, that she was "not at home," but Frau Jula restrained her. "What are you thinking about?" she whispered. "Don't let him think you are afraid of him. If you do, you won't be rid of him for a long time. You must laugh at him. Do you understand? Laugh at him pitilessly with all your might." Lilly would have liked her to stay and help her out, but she had already slipped away. Could she possibly outwit him single-handed?... He was now in the room. Drawn to her full height, she received him as a deadly enemy. "My dearest child," he said, and kissed the hand which she quickly drew away from him. He was very choicely dressed. He wore straw-coloured gloves, and held his silk hat against his breast. His eye glass danced on his white waistcoat. A serene self-confidence, an air of supreme mastery of the situation, illumined his person like an aureole. The manner in which he nestled comfortably against the cushions of his chair, and crossed his legs with easy self-assurance, showed plainly that he regarded her as his certain prey.