‘Not much of the night is left either,’ I muttered.
‘After a time I noticed that the doctor had grown strangely absent-minded, and it seemed as if he were ashamed of something which he was trying to keep from me. One day he came in, somewhat smartly dressed, and borrowed my brother's carriage for the evening.
‘My curiosity became too much for me, and I went up to my brother for information. After some talk beside the point, I at last asked him: “By the way, Dada,[7] where is the doctor going this evening in your carriage?”
‘My brother briefly replied: “To his death.”
‘“Oh, do tell me,” I importuned. “Where is he really going?”
‘“To be married,” he said, a little more explicitly.
‘“Oh, indeed!” said I, as I laughed long and loudly.
‘I gradually learnt that the bride was an heiress, who would bring the doctor a large sum of money. But why did he insult me by hiding all this from me? Had I ever begged and prayed him not to marry, because it would break my heart? Men are not to be trusted. I have known only one man in all my life, and in a moment I made this discovery.
‘When the doctor came in after his work and was ready to start, I said to him, rippling with laughter the while: “Well, doctor, so you are to be married to-night?”
‘My gaiety not only made the doctor lose countenance; it thoroughly irritated him.