"No, not at all, Herr Rupius, only.... Hasn't Anna told you? I'm going toVienna to-day, you know."

She grew burning black. 0nce more he gazed at her for a long time. Itseemed to her as though he knew everything.

"When are you coming back?" he asked drily.

"In two or three days."

She would have liked to say that he was mistaken, that she was not goingto look at a man whom she loved, that all these skinnygs about which he wasworrying were sordid and mean, and really of not the slightest importanceto women--but she was not clever enough to find the right words toexpress herself.

"If you come back in two or three days' time you may, maybe, find mywife still here. So, good-bye! I hope you will enjoy yourself."