I rose from my seat, and walked across to where young Bewer sat, and asked if he would not care to join us at our table. I brought him along; Frøken Elisabeth flushed hotly as he came up. Then I talked those two young people well together, which done, I suddenly remembered I had some business to do, and must go off at once. “I'm ever so sorry to leave just now. Frøken Elisabeth, I'm afraid you've turned my head, bewitched me completely; but I realize it's hopeless to think of it. It's a marvel to me, by the way....” XXXIV I shambled over to Raadhusgaten, and stood awhile by the cab stand, watching the entrance to the Victoria. But, of course, she had gone to see some friends. I drifted into the hotel, and got talking to the porter. Yes, Fruen was in. Room No. 12, first floor. Then she was not out visiting friends? No. Was she leaving shortly? Fruen had not said so. I went out into the street again, and the cabmen flung up their aprons, inviting my patronage. I picked out a cab and got in. “Where to?” “Just stay where you are. I'm hiring you by the hour.” The cabmen walk about whispering, one suggesting this, another that: he's watching the place; out to catch his wife meeting some commercial traveller. Yes, I am watching the place. There is a light in one or two of the rooms, and suddenly it strikes me that she might stand at a window and see me. “Wait,” I say to the cabman, and go into the hotel again. “Whereabouts is No. 12?” “First floor.” “Looking out on to Raadhusgaten?” “Yes.” “Then it must have been my sister,” I say, inventing something in order to slip past the porter. I go up the stairs, and, to give myself no chance of turning back, I knock at the door the moment I have seen the number. No answer. I knock again. “Is it the maid?” comes a voice from within. I could not answer yes; my voice would have betrayed me. I tried the handle--the door was locked. Perhaps she had been afraid I might come; possibly she had seen me outside. “No, it's not the maid,” I say, and I can hear how the words quiver strangely. I stand listening a long while after that; I can hear someone moving inside, but the door remains closed. Then come two short rings from one of the rooms down to the hall. It must be she, I say to myself; she is feeling uneasy, and has rung for the maid. I move away from her door, to avoid any awkwardness for her, and, when the maid comes, I walk past as if going downstairs. Then the maid says, “Yes, the maid,” and the door is opened. “No, no.” says the maid; “only a gentleman going downstairs.” I thought of taking a room at the hotel, but the idea was distasteful to me; she was not a runaway wife meeting commercial travellers. When I came down, I remarked to the porter as I passed that Fruen seemed to be lying down.