“Do I! That will be splendid!”
“Very good, then. So Eleonore and I will go up to our apartment and get the festive supper ready. Follow us in a quarter of an hour.”
When Helmer rejoined the ladies, the table was already set. Plates with all kinds of cold meat, patties, lobsters, chicken, strawberries and sweets, were arrayed on it, and at one side in a silver bucket a bottle of champagne. Moreover, on a small table, drawn close, and presided over by Frau Eleonore, a singing tea-kettle.
Franka, who had changed her evening gown for a soft white kimono, came forward to meet her guest with outstretched hand: “Welcome, Brother Chlodwig! Now we will enjoy a pleasant cozy hour. After all the great and overpowering things that surround one here, one really yearns for something domestic, calm, and comfortable.”
Chlodwig kissed her hand: “You make me happy, Franka. You could not have put a prettier crown on this day than this kind of invitation. And I mean to do honor to all these appetizing things—the fact is that, in the anxiety of preparing my address, I have scarcely eaten anything all day, and I am as hungry as a bear.”
“I am glad of that. So let us sit down. Let the feast begin!”
“Even the stage-setting is festive,” remarked Helmer. “I never saw your rooms lighted in the evening before.... This subdued rose-light is magical in its effect.”
“Oh,” sighed Franka, “it is impossible here to escape from the magical. Don’t you find also that it brings with it some homesickness for the simple and commonplace?... Please, take a bit of this patty.”
Helmer helped himself. “Yes, there seems to be a sort of pendulum law in our wishes.”
“Then, what would be the equilibrium? To be without a wish? But let us not philosophize—let us chat. We should have so much serious talk that I would rather not begin. Your address—I have not as yet said a word about it to you, let me shake hands with you ... it was fine! That address with its wide outlook,—it would lead to such deeply serious discussion on a hundred abstract things!”