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 drew a deep breath from the bottom of her heart, “a great deal of news, a great deal. Just think of it, the doctor’s wife ” (that doctor, the head of the local opposition, the editor of the Citizen, was a sworn enemy of the burgomaster), “well, she is a woman without shame,—she was seen lately in the woods in a dreadfully intimate tête à tête with the adjunct! You know, she has had experience in such things, and God knows, how many times! However, at times I think that that is a family characteristic. Denken Sie sich, the doctor looks calmly at all that is going on,—of course, it’s a case of bad conscience! Frau Räthin, last week he had to send the chambermaid to Prague! Just think of it, it is he who is the town moralist! He wants to stain my honor! His paper wrote lately,—it is a shame to mention it,—about me, about me and our administrator! What meanness!”

The wife of the town’s head blushed crimson from her forehead to her neck. Then