sentimental outburst. He went to the window and threw the paper
out; it alighted with a slow quivering. He was already afraid that
it would go directly down into the ditch; but then a breeze came
lifting it almost up to himself again, then a new current carried
it away, lifting it higher and higher, whirling it, till at last
it disappeared from his sight in continual ascension, so he
thought.

"After all, I have become engaged to-day," he said to himself,
with a certain quiet humor, and yet impressed by a feeling that he
had really given himself to the unknown.

II.

Six years had passed, and Fritz Bagger had made his mark, although
not as a lover. He had become Counsellor, and was particularly
distinguished for the skill and energy with which he brought
criminals to confession. It is thus that a man of fine and poetic
feelings can satisfy himself in such a business, for a time at
least: with the half of his soul he can lead a life which to
himself and others seems entire only because it is busy, because
it keeps him at work, and fills him with a consciousness of
accomplishing something practical and good. There is a youthful
working power, which needs not to look sharply out into the future
for a particular aim of feeling or desire. This power itself, by
the mere effort to keep in a given place, is for such an
organization, every day, an aim, a relish; and one can for a
number of years drive business so energetically, that he, too,
slips over that difficult time which in every twenty-four hours
threatens to meet him, the time between work and sleep, twilight,