‘You are laughing at me,’ said Sara, laughing in her turn. ‘I felt insulted, I confess. What a tiresome, mischievous little woman that is!’ ‘Very. But,’ he added earnestly, and in a low voice, ‘you were not insulted yesterday, when I said some rather strong things to you, the reverse of complimentary, and yet now——’ ‘That was quite different,’ she replied, her cheek flushing again. ‘And you know it, Herr Falkenberg; but you wish to torment me because you think I am exaggerated in everything.’ ‘Since that is your opinion of my opinion of you, let it stand,’ was all he would reply. Frau Goldmark sat in her corner, and watched the proceedings from afar. After having been made so much of for so long, this was a grievous way in which to be treated. Her feelings were assuredly akin to those expressed by the oysters when the walrus and the carpenter threatened to eat them. ‘After such kindness, that would be A dismal thing to do.’ ‘_Lieber Himmel!_’ thought Frau Goldmark, who was accustomed, even mentally, to the use of exaggerated expressions, ‘how could I know? But who does know what will please an Englishwoman? Not I, I am sure. I wish I had given her back her stare, but I never have my wits about me at the right moment, and I dare say she thought I was overwhelmed with confusion. And when he came up to me’—here an expression akin to cunning developed itself upon Frau Goldmark’s face—‘these men think they have but to speak, and that then we believe them. He “thought I had made a mistake,” indeed. Whether I may have been mistaken about that or not, can I not see him now, talking to her, and the look in his eyes? Bah! it is easy enough to see what it all means. People like her think they have a right to toss their heads if one hazards a joke. Would not she be glad enough to catch him, if she could? And if she does, will it not be through me that they have been brought together—their happiness made out of my misfortune? _Ach, ja!_’ Which leads one to reflect that there is a celebrated fable concerning a lion and a mouse, which relates how the former magnanimously thanked the latter on being set free from his toils through that humble agency—leads one also to wonder a little what some mice might feel supposing they had received favours of crushing importance from the kingly beast, and had later been rebuked for flippancy of behaviour. Perhaps the feelings of the mouse on such an occasion might not be altogether without resemblance to those just now entertained by Frau Goldmark towards her two most substantial benefactors.