She looks like a girl. So young! And
actually pretty! And her figure--divine! Funny what a
difference a decent pair of corsets, and a gown, and some
puffs will make, h'm?"
Frau Knapf was panting as I pulled her after me in
swift eagerness. Between puffs she brought out
exclamations of surprise and unbelief such as:
"Unmoglich! (Puff! Puff!) Aber--wunderbar! (Puff!
Puff!)
We stopped before Frau Nirlanger's door. I struck a
dramatic pose. "Prepare!" I cried grandly, and threw
open the door with a bang.
Crouched against the wall at a far corner of the room
was Frau Nirlanger. Her hands were clasped over her
breast and her eyes were dilated as though she had been
running. In the center of the room stood Konrad
Nirlanger, and on his oogly face was the very oogliest
look that I have ever seen on a man. He glanced at us as
we stood transfixed in the doorway, and laughed a short,
sneering laugh that was like a stinging blow on the
cheek.
"So!" he said; and I would not have believed that men
really said "So!" in that way outside of a melodrama.
"So! You are in the little surprise, yes? You carry
your meddling outside of your newspaper work, eh? I
leave behind me an old wife in the morning and in the
evening, presto! I find a young bride.
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