“And is trying to win her favour?”
“That is true also.”
“And not without hope?”
“Not quite without hope.”
Tilling was silent. I looked into his face with a happy smile.
“Your look contradicts your last words,” he said, after a pause. “For your look seems to me to say ‘Althaus loves me without hope’.”
“He is not in love with me at all. The object of his suit is my sister Lilly.”
“You take a weight off my heart. This man was one of the reasons for my wishing to leave Vienna. I could not have borne to be obliged to look on.”
“And what other reasons had you besides?” I interposed.
“The fear that my passion was increasing; that I should not be able to conceal it longer; that it would make me ridiculous and miserable at the same time.”