"She hasn't been feeling very well all day," Miss von Schwertfeger interjected hastily. "Besides, your story's very exciting, colonel. I'm all keyed up, too." "Hm," he muttered, twisting the end of his black dyed moustache, evidently little desirous of concluding his tale. But Lilly could not calm herself. "I must know, I must know," she cried, clasping her hands. She was beside herself. "Well, then," said the colonel, fixing his eyes on her, "down I go again in a jiffy--in ambush in front of the lodge--there he comes, stooping like a polecat--stands still--eyes my window--sees the light--aha, he thinks, all right. And just as he's about to stick the key in the lock, I tackle him by the collar." Lilly burst out into a mad laugh. "Isn't that funny, isn't that funny!" she cried. This time the colonel believed her. "Something funnier's coming," he continued. "'If you confess everything,' I said, 'I'll pardon you. But only on that condition. Otherwise you're off to-morrow bright and early.' Well, what do you think the rascal was up to? The good-for-nothing has a lady love--barmaid in the Golden Apple--where the sergeants and clerks resort. So, for the sake of bumming with her, he bribed a railroad official and actually went to town and came back as a piece of the king's baggage. Night after night rode in the same train as I did--each way. If _that_ isn't rank impudence, what--Lilly!" A pause ensued. Lilly experienced a sensation of swaying and reeling as if tossed on stormy seas, a buzzing and singing; at the same time she felt Miss von Schwertfeger press her hand under the table by way of warning. The colonel rose, took Lilly's head between his hands, and pressing it until she thought her ears would split, said: "It seems you _do_ need rest." With that he faced about, and left the room abruptly. "Now gather your wits together," Lilly heard her friend's disturbed voice behind her, "because after this he'll be on the look-out." Lilly wanted to throw herself on Miss von Schwertfeger's breast and be petted and comforted. But Miss von Schwertfeger, as if afraid somebody might catch her in too intimate a conversation with Lilly, held herself aloof, and said coolly, though in a friendly tone: "Excuse me, dear, I have something I must attend to this minute." With that, she, too, left the room. What now? Lilly stared into space. The remnants of the precipitate meal littered the table; the dark carved furniture cast black-edged rays from out of the room's wintry twilight; the brass chandeliers gleamed palely. All was as usual, and yet nothing was there, nothing but an awful, all-devouring void, an abyss which drew her into its bosom with the enticements of grappling hooks and huge tongs. She stepped to the window and looked out apathetically.