To prove her gratitude she told him he might come evenings also--Richard permitted it--without waiting to be invited. If she should happen to be out, the maid would prepare supper for him, and see to it that he lacked nothing, absolutely nothing. And mindful of the wry face the maid had cut the first day he came, she enjoined her emphatically: "Now be real pleasant and friendly to him, so that he always feels at home here." The buxom wench turned down the corners of her mouth and said nothing. * * * * * Lilly now went to work in behalf of Fritz Redlich with redoubled zeal. She again found a ready assistant in Mrs. Jula. "Leave the thing to me," said Mrs. Jula one day "There's somebody up there I've known a long time"--she hesitated a bit--"he's all-powerful, and has taken the Good Lord's place in many a minister's family. If I were to write to him--but, of course my name must be kept out, it's still a red rag to the bull up there." The next day Lilly sent her one of the advertisements that Fritz Redlich had inserted in the paper. Mrs. Jula was to forward it to a certain person, and the response would then go directly to Fritz Redlich without the intermediation of a third party. Lilly preferred that his future fortune should appear to be due entirely to his own efforts. And behold! Mrs. Jula was successful. One evening the next week Fritz Redlich appeared at Lilly's unexpectedly--a frequent occurrence now, whether she was at home or not--and complacently informed her his advertisement had been so convincing that he had immediately received an invitation from a minister in Further Pomerania to send his references and be ready to leave Berlin at short notice. The minister seemed to be quite keen for him. Lilly's heart throbbed with pride. Nothing in the world would have induced her to betray that she was at the bottom of his good luck. His happiness was her work! He himself, therefore, was her possession, more absolutely her possession than anything in the world. During the meal an exalted, blissful silence prevailed. Since he had not announced his coming, there was no potato soup, the usual first course. She excused herself for the omission, and added with a little pang: "At any rate you won't take many more meals with me." "Probably," he said with an embarrassed glance at the maid, whose presence evidently troubled him. Had she not been there, he would very likely have given warmer expression to his feelings. After the meal they seated themselves in the drawing-room. It was July, and a hot breeze blew through the open windows. But the naked little monkey, whose cage stood next to the aquarium, shivered even at this season, and had to be wrapped in a cloak, an attention to which he submitted, snarling all the while. The canary sang its evening song, and twilight fell. Fritz Redlich sat in the rocking chair, in which he liked to lounge after a meal. Lilly walked up and down the room agitatedly.