Joseph saw this, and there was a painful wonder in his eyes.

My mother showed distress. She was doing aimless things and fumbling with her hands like a person who has been knocked out of his bearings. She started to ask, in a hesitating way, if Philip was in love with Marget, but Wilhelm was not conscious of anything but his own affair; so he never heard her, but went right on:

»Traum wouldn't stay; but going out at the door, Marget still pleading, he said as indifferently as if he were asking the time of day, ›I can't stop now, but I'll come every day, if you like.‹«

»He doesn't love her!«

It was Lilly. It was out before she could stop it; her feelings had got the best of her. Joseph's head was bowed; if he had been looking at his face in the glass, he would have seen a spasm. Wilhelm looked at Lilly in a vague half-conscious way as if he sort of wondered why she should show so much interest, then he touched his dry lips with his tongue and went on:

»Marget's eyes were humid and brilliant, her face was flushed, she was in a state of exaltation, she was like a person intoxicated with adorable emotions. I said, ›You are in love with him.‹ She answered, ›I am, and I glory in it; I worship him!‹«

Lilly patted the floor with her foot, and the indignant breath came short through her parted lips, but she kept control of her tongue this time.

»I argued with her, reasoned with her, but it did no good. I said he was a stranger, an adventurer whom nobody knew. She said it was nothing to her; she loved him, and did not care who he was nor what he was. Still I reasoned and persuaded. I said he was possessed of a devil. She only said ›I would God I were possessed of the mate to it.‹ It was awful to hear her say that. I told her he was indifferent to her, and that he had not shown by a single word or sign that he cared for her in anything more than a friendly way. She said, ›I cannot help it, I love him; he does not love me now, but he is coming every day, and I have a right to hope and I will hope.‹ It was a bitter hour for me. We parted, without a caress; she did not even put out her hand; then her conscience smote her and she put it out, saying ›Forgive me – good-night – and let us be friends.‹

It is a madness, you see; it is enchantment – she is not to blame. I have not been back. He goes every day; I have it from Gottfried. Marget's love was my whole fortune; and it is lost.«

A silence fell. Every one sat as still as a statue. And the pride and the hopes and the happiness of each had received a stroke and been brought low. It was dismal, and like a funeral. Presently Wilhelm cast an appealing glance at my father, who started to get up, but Wilhelm motioned him back, as if to say, »Never mind – I know the way.« So he passed into the back room. The liquor was there.

Soon we heard a brisk step, and the next moment Satan came tripping in as cheerful as a bird, and his coming was like the sea-breeze invading a sick-room. Everybody's spirits rose, and the welcome that shone in Lilly's face was another pang for Joseph. Satan greeted every one heartily by name and handshake; and in the midst of it Wilhelm came reeling in with our butcher-knife in his hand. He flourished it, and shouted »Stand back!« which they naturally did, being taken by surprise, and the women screamed; and as Satan faced about, Wilhelm sprang at him and brought down the knife with a deadly lunge. But it only touched Satan's breast, and fell to the floor.

For just an instant Satan's eyes glowed with a dangerous light but it was gone as swiftly as it had come, and he was saying to the company –

»Don't be disturbed, he was only playing.«

Wilhelm looked perplexed and ashamed, and said haltingly – punctuating with a hiccup here and there –

»No, it is not entitled to so charitable a construction as that, and I make the humblest apologies to the company for my conduct. It was not myself that was acting, it is foreign to my nature; my sleep has been broken, I have been drinking more than is good for me, and for a moment my reason was affected, I think. I have done wrong, and am sorry. I had no right to proceed against his life.«

Satan could do what he pleased with any one.