"Who told you I wanted to sell my house?"
"Your wife."
"My wife? Annele, come here! Did you ever say I wanted to sell my house?"
"Not exactly. I only told Ernestine that if her husband should hear of a good hotel, in a favorable situation, we should like to buy it, and then sell our house."
"It would be much wiser," suggested the shopkeeper, "to sell your house first. You would easily find a suitable hotel, if you had the ready money to pay for it."
Lenz turned pale as death, and with difficulty brought out the words, "I shall on no account sell my house."
The two men departed, complaining bitterly of those shiftless persons who did not know their own mind from one day to another, and put others to a vast amount of needless trouble.
Lenz with difficulty commanded his rising passion.
Annele paid no heed to the frequent glances he turned upon her when they were left by themselves, but preserved a sullen silence. At last he spoke.
"Why did you play me such a trick?"