"Well?"
"All of a sudden you are like another person. But it is becoming to you and I like you very much. Shall I tell you further?"
"What?"
"There is something alluring about you."
"Oh, my only Geert, why, what you say is glorious. Now my heart is gladder than ever—Give me another half a cup—Do you know that that is what I have always desired? We women must be alluring, or we are nothing whatever."
"Is that your own idea?"
"I might have originated it, but I got it from Niemeyer."
"From Niemeyer! My, oh my, what a fine pastor he is! Well, I just tell you, there are none like him here. But how did he come by it? Why, it seems as though some Don Juan, some regular heart smasher had said it."
"Ah, who knows?" laughed Effi. "But isn't that Crampas coming there? And from the beach! You don't suppose he has been swimming? On the 27th of September!"
"He often does such things, purely to make an impression."