Willibald in the meantime had gone, almost on a run, to the nearest
street corner, and there he halted and tried to overcome his
bewilderment and collect his thoughts. It was some time before he
started slowly on his homeward way, and while standing dazed and stupid
in the little country road, he threw more than one glance back at the
doctor's house.

What would his mother say? She, who all her life had spurned the
play-actor as she would a reptile. And she was right, Will saw that
clearly; there was a sorcery about such people against which one needed
protection.

But if this Marietta Volkmar should see fit to go to Fürstenstein to
visit her girlhood's friend! The young heir was horrified at the
thought, and assured himself that he was horrified, but there was a new
light in his eyes all the while. He saw suddenly, in his mind's eye, the
reception room at Fürstenstein, and the piano at which his betrothed had
sat so long that day, but in her place was a dainty little figure, with
a perfect glory of curly brown hair around her head; and the heavy notes
of the "Janizary March" changed into the soft, pleading tones of the
old-time ballad, and in the midst of it all, broke out the clear,
bubbling laugh which sounded like music, too.

And all this sweetness was lost forever, both in this world and in the
next, because it had been seen and heard on the stage. Frau von
Eschenhagen had often expressed her views on that subject, and her son,
a good, obedient son always, looked upon her as an oracle. But now he
heaved a deep sigh, as he said half aloud:

"What a shame! What a lamentable shame!"