Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/329

 waiting to serve up, and sat down with a keen appetite. So much was I changed, as hardly to know myself again. A twelvemonth before, I would have been quite distracted under similar circumstances, and unable to swallow a bit. I thought no more of Adela, and made a hearty meal with the greatest ease and composure in the world.

The first course had just been taken away, when Adela's woman entered the apartment to apologize for her mistress's not coming to dinner. I desired her to tell the cook to lay the cloth in her own room. It was well I said no more, for that very moment my wife made her appearance. She either repented the message, or followed the servant to hear my answer. I returned her slight curtsey without rising, and fell to the bottle. She sat down on her chair, and spread her napkin, waiting for some time, probably to see if I would offer, or help her to something. But I was too much busied with myself for such a thought to have come into my head. I hardly took the trouble to cast a quick glance upon her between whiles. She fixed her