"I think you'll find I do. They told me at Rotterdam that I had had a very near squeak of death; and whether it's that or something else, I don't seem to have any of the meannesses you associate with me. I am perfectly in earnest. Perhaps I've dropped the rest with my memory."
"I hope you have, Johann, and there's certainly a sincere look in your eyes there never used to be. Ah! There they are," she broke off, pointing a little distance ahead; and I saw Nessa and the child coming toward us, with the man in attendance.
We had turned into the Thiergarten and were in one of the larger side walks at the moment; the part where Nessa usually brought Lottchen, Rosa told me: and I had a good view of them before they saw us. Nessa had the child between her and von Erstein, and I was deeply concerned to notice how worn and troubled and harried she looked.
The man was talking to her over Lottchen's head and appeared to have no eyes for anybody or anything except her. He was about forty, I thought; the ruddy-faced type of Jew, clean-shaven, square of face, rather high cheekbones, a very un-Jewish nose, small eyes, with bags of sensuality under them, a somewhat heavy jowl, with little rolls of flesh under his chin and on his thick neck. Not by any means a bad-looking man and very smartly dressed in faultlessly cut clothes which, however, did not hide his tendency to paunchiness. An ugly customer to get across with, was my verdict.
I was more than a little bothered about Nessa meeting me for the first time in his presence, as it was extremely probable that she would give vent to her astonishment in a way that might start his suspicions, so I stepped out into full view while they were still a little distance away, hoping to prepare her.
But there was no trouble of the sort. Lottchen caught sight of us first and, breaking away, rushed up to me. I stopped with her, therefore, and Rosa went on to the other two; and to my intense satisfaction, she held von Erstein in talk while Nessa, glad no doubt of the relief, came to us.
It could not have happened more fortunately. Just before she reached us I managed to place the child so that she could not see Nessa, and then turned and raised my hat, giving her a clear view of my features.
"You!" she exclaimed, starting and turning as white as death and trembling so violently that for an instant I thought she was going to faint. But I did what a look would do to caution her and turned to the child.
"You must introduce me, Lottchen."
"This is my new Cousin Johann," she said a little shyly. And the slight interlude gave Nessa time to pull herself together sufficiently to return my bow.