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248 After luncheon, which he took in a familiar old restaurant—now, however, newly and all too ostentatiously appointed—he went to see Boehlinger, who had been already apprised of his arrival in the city; Boehlinger gave him a friendly but quiet welcome, and after a few sympathetic words asked to hear the circumstances of Friederike’s death in more detail. With lowered eyes and in an undertone, he reported the sad affair to the friend of his youth, and when at length he looked up he was somewhat astonished to find that the man with whom he was face to face was an elderly, stout person, whose smooth-shaven countenance—which his memory had still retained in its youthfulness—now had a rather faded and weather-beaten appearance. At first Boehlinger showed that he was deeply moved and was silent for a long space; finally he shrugged his shoulders and sat down at his writing-table, as though he wished by this gesture to express that even when confronted by such a deplorable event there was nothing left for the survivor but to turn resolutely to the problems of the day. He then opened the top of his desk, drew out a brief-case, and, after producing the will and other important papers for Graesler's inspection, proceeded to discuss the matter of the inheritance in detail. As the deceased had left more extensive savings than Graesler had expected, and as he was the only heir, the way matters stood he could from then on live modestly, but comfortably, on his income from the bequest alone, without continuing to practise his profession. So the attorney informed him at the end of his analysis. But through precisely this disclosure the doctor realized that it would be long before the time for his retirement would come; nay, that, in fact, a passionate impulse towards activity came to life in him; and upon affirming this vigorously, he no longer hesitated to tell his old friend of the sanitarium and of the prospective negotiations for its purchase which he had made shortly before leaving the little watering-place. The attorney listened attentively, asked the doctor for further elucidation of several details, seemed at first to be inclined to sanction Graesler's aim, but in the end hesitated to urge his friend seriously to an undertaking which, apart from such medical skill and adroitness of social intercourse as he was willing to allow him in the highest measure, demanded also a certain talent for business and organization, a talent which Graesler had displayed slight evidence of possessing. The doctor could not dispute this objection and