Page:The Dial (Volume 73).djvu/319

Rh that it was he. There was nothing left for him to do, for the present, but make an appointment for a visit the following morning; and after he had stood for a while over the sick-bed, silently watching the child, which was now breathing more quietly, he pressed the mother's hand heartily and took his leave, followed by her looks of warm gratitude.

He hurried quickly up to the second floor, opened the door, and entered the dining-room, which he found empty. She had soon lost patience, he thought to himself. That was to be expected. Perhaps it was for the best, as long as the child down stairs had very likely contracted a contagious disease. She, too, had probably thought of that. Sabine, to be sure, would not have rushed off in such a case. Well, anyhow, she had enjoyed her supper before she left. He contemplated the table and the remains of the meal, and his mouth twitched contemptuously. It would not be such a bad idea, he thought, to go down stairs again, to the first floor, and keep the handsome widow company. He had a feeling that in this very hour, at the bedside of her feverish child, he could obtain from her what- ever he might want, and was not unpleasantly thrilled by the depravity of the notion.

"But of course I won't go down," he murmured to himself. "I am, and remain, a Philistine—for which even Sabine would probably forgive me this time."

The door to his study stood open. He entered it and switched on the light. Of course Katharina was not here either. He switched it off again, and then noticed a beam of light piercing through a crack in the door to his bedroom. A bare hope stirred within him. He hesitated, for it was at all events pleasant to warm himself for a while upon that hope. From within he now heard a rustling and a rumpling. He opened the door. There was Katharina, lying—or rather sitting upright—in his bed. She looked up from a thick volume which she was supporting on the bed-cover with both hands.

"You're not angry, are you?" she said quite simply. Her brown, slightly curly hair hung loosely about her white shoulders. How beautiful she was! Graesler stood still in the doorway without moving. He smiled, for the book which rested on the coverlet was the anatomical atlas.

"Why, what's that you've picked out for yourself?" he asked, approaching with some embarrassment.