A strange, repelling glance met him and interrupted his beautiful emotion. Something hardened in him and he felt a new inclination to sarcasm.
"Forgive me for leaving you," she said, "one must have patience with the folly of my sex. You know that well."
And she preceded him to his old place.
Screaming with pleasure Joko flew forward to meet her, and Niebeldingk remained standing to take his leave.
She did not hold him back.
Outside it occurred to him that he hadn't told her the anecdote of
Fritz and the Indian lilies.
"It's a pity," he thought, "it might have cheered her." …
Chapter VIII
Next morning Niebeldingk sat at his desk and reflected with considerable discomfort on the experience of the previous evening. Suddenly he observed, across the street, restlessly waiting in the same doorway—the avenging spirit!
It was an opportune moment. It would distract him to make an example of the fellow. Nothing better could have happened.