retreat, had lost its charm, he gave himself up to his own thoughts,
and was soon busily engaged in thinking over all that had been said by
his quondam acquaintance of the dinner-table, in inventing neatly
turned phrases and felicitous replies. He walked without aim, in a
leisurely way down quiet streets, quickly across big thoroughfares,
and paid no attention to where he was going. The falling darkness made
the quaint streets look strangely alike; it gave them, too, an air of
fantastic unreality: the dark old houses, marshalled in rows on either
side, stood as if lost in contemplation, in the saddening dusk. The
lighting of the street-lamps, which started one by one into existence,
and the conflict with the fading daylight of the uneasily beating
flame, that was swept from side to side in the wind like a woman's
hair--these things made his surroundings seem still shadowier and less
real.

He was roused from his reverie by finding himself on what was
apparently the outskirts of the town. With much difficulty he made his
way back, but he was still far from certain of his whereabouts, when
an unexpected turn to the right brought him out on the spacious
AUGUSTUSPLATZ, in front of the New Theatre. He had been in this square
once already, but now its appearance was changed. The big buildings
that flanked it were lit up; the file of droschkes waiting for fares,
under the bare trees, formed a dotted line of lights. A double row of
hanging lamps before the CAFE FRANCAIS made the corner of the
GRIMMAISCHESTRASSE dazzling to the eyes; and now, too, the massive
white theatre was awake as well. Lights shone from all its high
windows, streamed out through the Corinthian columns and low-porched
doorways. Its festive air was inviting, after his twilight wanderings,
and he went across the square to it. Immediately before the theatre,
early corners stood in knots and chatted; programme--and text-vendors