Lilly's wound was dressed, and she was taken to the hospital, where she remained temporarily, because they did not know what else to do with her. While at the hospital she learned that her mother had been placed in the district insane asylum, and in all likelihood would never come out of it again. Lilly was left alone in the world. CHAPTER V "Well, young lady," said Mr. Pieper, the prominent lawyer, "I have been appointed your guardian. I accepted the office because I thought it my duty--the papers in Lemke _vs._ Militzky," he interrupted himself to call to his managing clerk, who had just then entered. "What was I going to say? Oh, yes. Because I thought it my duty, despite my being an extremely busy man--to assist widows and orphans to the best of my feeble ability." He passed his exquisitely cherished left hand over his shining bald pate and straw-coloured beard, beneath which a worldly mouth half concealed an epicurean smile. "My wards all make their way in the world," he continued. "It's my pride to have them succeed. The way they do it--well, that's my affair, a business secret, so to say. I am convinced, my child, that you, too, will get along. If I didn't think so, I should not be so interested in you probably. The first thing is to get the young ladies the right positions. The homely ones give most trouble, unless they happen to possess a certain measure of self-abnegation. It pays them to assume the so-called Christian virtues. But of course you don't belong in that category--you probably know it yourself--I tell you merely that you may learn with time to make demands. I must explain--the main art in life is to determine the boundary line between demands justifiable and demands unjustifiable. That is, you must have a feeling for exactly how far your powers will reach in each circumstance as it arises. A girl like you--" The managing clerk, a tall, bony fellow, suddenly appeared at the lawyer's side shoving a bundle of documents at him. "At four o'clock the Labischin divorce case. At quarter past five Reimann--Reimann _vs._ Fassbender--get everything ready, and have someone here to accompany this young lady--the papers will tell you where. That will do." The managing clerk vanished.