"Yes," she replied, with an enraptured glance at Johannes. "They have lately budded anew."
"Pray, then," urged her indefatigable tormentor, "soar aloft, that we may see you,--it would be a charming sight!" And he lighted a cigar at the lamp in the hall.
"All human beings are born with wings," said Elsa with pathos,--"only we forget how to use them."
"Come, Elsa dear, there is no use in our arguing with these men," Angelika said kindly. "Take leave of my mother, and we will walk along together, as we are going in the same direction."
Elsa did as she was told. In the doorway, behind the Staatsräthin, stood Ernestine, utterly dejected. Elsa went up to her and whispered, "May you rest well, if indeed shy Morpheus dare approach your armed spirit."
Herbert dragged Elsa away, whispering fiercely, "No pretty speeches to her! I will crush her! The 'little' man will prove great enough to terrify her!"
"Good-night, sweet mother. Good-night, poor Ernestine!" said Angelika, and then had hardly time to kiss them both before her impatient husband fairly picked her up and carried her down-stairs.
"Good-night, Professor Möllner," whispered Elsa. "The brook ripples onward to the ocean of oblivion."
"Good-night, good-night," resounded, in all variations of tone, from all sides, and Father Heim hummed in his strong bass voice an old student song, in which the other gentlemen gaily joined, for, with the exception of the disturbance caused by "that crazy Hartwich," the evening had been a pleasant one, and Möllner's Havanas were delicious on the way home. If only the Hartwich had not spoiled their fun with Fräulein Elsa, it would have been too good. Elsa was by far the better of the two. If she was a fool, they could at least laugh at her, which was impossible with the Hartwich, she was so deuced clever at repartee. Thus talking, laughing, and singing, the throng sought their several homes through the silent, starry night.
The Staatsräthin had entered the room with Ernestine, Johannes, having locked the street-door after his guests, came and took a chair by Ernestine's side. "Come, mother dear, sit down by us, and learn to know our guest a little before we separate for the night."