"Your sister," interrupted the matron thoughtfully, "she was the very one
who led her into the path that is not suited for her."

"No, no," the magistrate eagerly asserted. "God did not create a girl,
the mere sight of whom charms so many, to withdraw her from the gaze of
the world."

"Husband! husband!" exclaimed Frau Christine, tapping his arm gaily.
"But there go the Schurstabs and Ebners. What a noise there is in the
street below!"

Her husband looked out of the bow window, pointed down, and asked her to
come and stand beside him. When she had risen he passed his arm around
the slenderest part of her waist, which, however, he could not quite
clasp, and eagerly continued: "Just look! One would think it was a
banquet or a dance. The whole street is filled with sedan-chairs,
servants, and torch-bearers. A few hours ago the constables had hard
work to prevent the deluded people from destroying the house of the
profligate Es, and now one half of the distinguished honourable
Councillors come to pay their homage. Do you know, dear, what pleases
the most in all this?"

"Well?" asked Frau Christine, turning her face towards him with a look
of eager enquiry, which showed that she expected to hear something good.
But he nodded slightly, and answered:

"We members of patrician families cling to old customs; each wants to
keep his individuality, as he would share or exchange his escutcheon
with no one. Then, when one surpasses the rest in external things,