"My dear, dear friend, tell me, _tell_ me, what could I do? Could I rob you of your one pleasure, your one assurance? Was I to say to you, 'It's amateurish, unsalable?' I saw your whole soul was wrapped up in it, and you lived from it spiritually, as it were. I thought: 'When her affairs are all smoothed out, I'll just let it die a natural death.' And you know it was in a fair way to die naturally. You hardly thought of it the last month. Dearest, dearest friend, do reflect, what wrong did I do? I helped you out of wretched surroundings, I gave you a few months of joy and freedom from care, and I didn't even ask for so much as a kiss. If you want, return to your Mrs. Laue to-morrow, and it will be as if nothing happened. Or remain here quite calmly until you have found a position. I won't thrust myself on you. You needn't see me. When I--leave here--now--" He could not continue. After a period of silence Lilly raised her head in fright and curiosity to see what had become of him. She found him in a chair inclined over the table, his head hidden in his arms, and his back shaken with mute sobs. She stood next to him a while, and tears rolled down her cheeks. She was so sorry for him--oh, how sorry she was for him! Then she gently laid her hand on his hair. "Take comfort, dear friend," she said. "It will be much worse for me than for you. I won't have anybody at all." And she shuddered, thinking of her approaching loneliness. He straightened himself up and silently reached for his hat. His eyes were even more bleared than before; his head inclined still further to the left. Oh, how sorry she was for him! "Good-by," he said, pressing her right hand. "And thank you." "I will write to you," she said. "I should like to think it all over to-night. I shall probably move to-morrow, immediately." "Whatever you wish," he said. As he was drawing on his overcoat something long and cylindrical gleaming with gold and silver fell noiselessly from his pocket to the floor. Lilly picked it up. It was a huge cracker. Both had to smile. "That lovely carnival had to have this sad ending," she said. He sighed. "Did you enjoy yourself? I hope for that at least." "Oh, what's the difference so far as I'm concerned?" said Lilly, deprecatingly. "A great difference. The whole affair was gotten up for you." "How--for me?" "Well, do you suppose Mr. Kellermann, who at the very best earns fifty to a hundred marks a week, can afford such an entertainment? The physician ordered diversion, and on account of the position you are in, I couldn't offer you any, so I hid behind him, and--" She opened her eyes wide. If he loved her to that extent! "You dear, dear friend," she said, and for one instant lightly leaned her head against his shoulder. He threw his arms about her quickly, greedily, as if she would be snatched from him the next instant. His whole body quivered, and she felt his warm tears on her forehead.