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Rh out very well. The erstwhile rivals had become more mature and more advanced in the sphere of life that satisfied them, and they interfered with one another neither politically nor socially, nor in that discreet villa which Diederich visited one evening in the week when, without Guste's knowledge, he did not appear at the Stammtisch. It lay beyond the Saxon Gate, and was inhabited by a single lady, who was rarely seen in public, and then never on foot. In a stage box at the Valhalla Theatre she sometimes sat in great state, was subjected to general scrutiny with opera-glasses, but was never saluted by any one. For her own part she behaved like a queen preserving her incognito. In spite of her splendour, everybody knew that it was Käthchen Zillich who had trained for her profession in Berlin, and now followed it successfully in the villa the von Brietzens used to have. Nobody denied that this fact was not calculated to enhance the prestige of Pastor Zillich. His parishioners were deeply offended, not to mention the sceptics, who were delighted. In order to obviate a catastrophe the Pastor appealed to the police to put an end to the scandal, but he encountered opposition which could only be explained by reference to certain connections between the von Brietzen villa and the highest offices in the town. Doubting of human no less than divine justice, the father swore he would discharge the duties of a judge himself, and one afternoon he was really supposed to have inflicted chastisement on his daughter, as she lay in bed. Only for her mother, who guessed everything and followed him, Kathchen would not have got off with her life, the parish declared. It was said that the mother still had a reprehensible weakness for the daughter in her wicked splendour. So far as the Pastor was concerned, he declared from the pulpit that Käthchen was dead and buried, thus saving himself from the intervention of the ecclesiastical court. In time this trial increased his authority. &hellip; Among the gentlemen who had an investment interest in Käthchen's career Diederich knew officially only Jadassohn,