XIII


Sanin stayed on after dinner too. They did not let him go, still on
the same pretext of the terrible heat; and when the heat began to
decrease, they proposed going out into the garden to drink coffee in
the shade of the acacias. Sanin consented. He felt very happy. In the
quietly monotonous, smooth current of life lie hid great delights,
and he gave himself up to these delights with zest, asking nothing
much of the present day, but also thinking nothing of the morrow, nor
recalling the day before. How much the mere society of such a girl as
Gemma meant to him! He would shortly part from her and, most likely,
for ever; but so long as they were borne, as in Uhland's song, in
one skiff over the sea of life, untossed by tempest, well might
the traveller rejoice and be glad. And everything seemed sweet
and delightful to the happy voyager. Frau Lenore offered to play
against him and Pantaleone at 'tresette,' instructed him in this not
complicated Italian game, and won a few kreutzers from him, and he
was well content. Pantaleone, at Emil's request, made the poodle,
Tartaglia, perform all his tricks, and Tartaglia jumped over a stick
'spoke,' that is, barked, sneezed, shut the door with his nose,
fetched his master's trodden-down slippers; and, finally, with an
old cap on his head, he portrayed Marshal Bernadotte, subjected to
the bitterest upbraidings by the Emperor Napoleon on account of his
treachery. Napoleon's part was, of course, performed by Pantaleone,
and very faithfully he performed it: he folded his arms across his
chest, pulled a cocked hat over his eyes, and spoke very gruffly and