"'Listen, dear, I want to ask you a very important question. You're in love, aren't you?'
"'Yes'; replied Elly.
"'And you're sure the man's in love with you?'
"'Why do you say "man"?' asked Elly. 'Curt is my ideal. A little time ago it was Bruno--and before that it was Alfred--but now it's Curt, Yet he's not a man.'
"'What is he, then?'
"'He's a young man.'
"'Oh! that's it, is it? No, he's certainly not a man.' And Hertha's eyes shone: she knew what a 'man' looked like. 'Well, darling,' she went on, 'do you think that a "man," or a young man--it's all the same--could possibly love a married woman?'
"'Of course--naturally he would,' replied Elly, with perfect calmness.
"Hertha smiled indulgently at such want of intelligence.
"'No, no, little one,' she said. 'I don't mean his own wife, but a woman who is the wife of another?'