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212, but Wolfgang Buck caught up on her, smiling as if nothing had happened, and with him were Herr and Frau Lauer. Guste quickly threw a glance at Diederich which stirred his tender emotions. He stepped back behind a pillar and with beating heart allowed the vanquished to pass.

As he turned to go Governor von Wulckow came out of one of the offices. Hat in hand, Diederich took up his position and at the right moment clicked his heels together and stood at attention. And Wulckow actually stopped! "Well, well!" he rumbled from the depths of his beard, clapping Diederich on the shoulder. "You have set the pace. Most excellent sentiments. You'll hear from me again." He went off in his muddy boots, his paunch quivering in his riding-breeches, which were soaked with perspiration and left behind him, as penetrating as ever, that overpowering odour of masculinity which permeated everything that happened in the court.

Downstairs at the entrance door the Mayor still lingered, with his wife and mother-in-law who harassed him from both sides, and whose demands he tried to reconcile, a hopeless expression on his pale face.

At home they had already heard everything. The three women had waited in the vestibule for the end of the hearing, and had got Meta Harnisch to tell them what happened. Weeping silently Frau Hessling embraced her son. The sisters looked on feeling rather small, for only yesterday they had had nothing but contempt for Diederich's part in the affair, which had now turned out so brilliantly. But in the happy oblivion of victory Diederich ordered wine for dinner, and assured them that this day would assure their social position in Netzig for all time. "The five Buck girls will be careful not to cut you in the street. They may consider themselves lucky if you answer their salutes." Lauer's condemnation, he explained, was now only a matter of form. It had already been decided and, at the same time, Diederich's irresistible advance! "Naturally"—he nodded into his glass—