Page:Karl Gjellerup - Minna, A novel - 1913.djvu/230

 Stephensen smiled in a peculiar way.

"I dare say you can, but it is not about that I want to speak.… H'm! I said on the terrace that I had come in order to paint."

"That could not surprise me, as you are a painter."

"Quite right.… I am also going to paint, but it was not for this I came.… Two letters which I received from Minna, and in which she informed me of her engagement to you, brought me here."

"I don't understand why they should bring you to Dresden."

"Perhaps you will when you come to know what sort of association there has been between Minna and me."

"I know everything concerning this intimacy, but it only makes your presence still more mysterious."

"Indeed! It seems to me you ought to understand that the information that she was suddenly engaged to another man was bound to be a great surprise to me, and that I"

"Pardon me. A surprise? And why? I think on the contrary you should have been prepared for it, and that it ought to have been welcome news to you. You have in days gone by flirted with her, unfortunately not without success; you have assured yourself of her love in return, though you did not succeed in making her your mistress"

"Mr. Fenger, what an accusation! I must distinctly refute this insinuation"

"I am sorry, but you can hardly wonder that I believe more in Minna's assurances than in yours. As you, on the other hand, failed to have sufficient moral courage to take the responsibility which an engagement involved"

"An engagement? That would be the last straw. My good Mr. Fenger, you are young enough and very likely