"That we should be going to Vienna together?"
"No, no, I mean that we shall both—how shall I express it?—pass or end our lives yonder"—she gave a slight nod in the direction of the place from which they came.
"Very true, indeed!" answered Bertha, who had not yet considered whether there was anything really strange in the fact or not.
"Well, you, of course, knew it the moment you were married, but I—"
Frau Rupius gazed straight before her.
"So then your move to the little town," said Bertha, "did not take place until—until—"
She broke off in confusion.
"Yes, you know that, of course."
In saying this Frau Rupius looked Bertha full in the face as if reproaching her for her question. But when she continued to speak she smiled gently, as though her thoughts were not occupied by anything so sad.
"Yes, I never imagined that I should leave Vienna; my husband had his position as a government official, and indeed he would certainly have been able to remain longer there, in spite of his infirmity, had he not wanted to go away at once."