"At this the lawyer flew into a passion. 'If you do that,' he cried, 'you are only fit to be locked up in a lunatic asylum at Döbling.'
"Nevertheless," concluded Bessy, "it is my serious and fixed resolve to do so."
I could not help laying my hand on hers. What true, what noble sentiments were slumbering in that heart! If only she had had some one to awaken them! What an excellent lady might have been made out of this woman, if she had only met with a husband who, in the most ordinary acceptance of the word, had been a good fellow, as is really the case with about nine men out of every ten. Why should she have always managed to draw the unlucky tenth out of the urn of destiny?
She guessed my thoughts during that moment of silence. Those large, deep fiery eyes slowly filled with tears. The fire of a diamond is nothing to be compared with the fiery sparkle of those tears. How lovely she was at that moment!
Her lips began to quiver, and she could scarcely pronounce the words:
"That other woman had a child."
And at this she began to sob convulsively, covering her face with one hand, and squeezing my hand violently with the other.
My heart was so touched that, a very little more, and I should have mingled my tears with hers.
When she had wept out her bitter mood, she sighed deeply, and dried her tears.
"Now you know why I asked you to come here," said she. "Be you the judge in this matter. Which is right, the reason or the heart? Am I to do what my lawyer advises, or what my own feelings suggest?"