"Why so lost in thought, my gracious lady?" Borgert said.
"I was merely wondering what stories you gentlemen might hatch against _us_," she said with some dignity.
He was about pathetically to disclaim any such fell designs, when it was noticed that Frau Kahle had risen to bid farewell, and with her Lieutenant Pommer, whose escort home she had accepted, her husband being off on a short official trip.
They were barely gone, when Borgert remarked:
"I think we ought to subscribe for this poor Kahle woman, just enough to enable her to buy a new dress. I don't think she has anything to wear besides this faded, worn-out rag of hers. I am sick of seeing it."
"But you ought to see her at home," interjected Müller, in a minor key of disdain. "There she looks worse than a slovenly servant girl. And she doesn't seem to find time to patch up her dirty gown, while her boy, the only child she has, runs about the streets like a cobbler's apprentice from the lower town. One thing, though, that urchin _does_ know--he can lie like Satan."
"Inherited from his mother, of course," remarked Borgert, when a cold and reproachful look out of Frau Clara's eyes made him stop in the middle of his sentence. There was an embarrassed silence for a minute, and when the talk was resumed it no longer furnished such "interesting" material. Captain König's yawning became more pronounced, and Leimann was leaning back in his chair, dozing, with mouth half open. His wife, too, showed unmistakable signs of ennui, now that the scandal she loved no longer poured forth. Her features, a moment ago smooth and animated, now looked worn and aged, losing all their charm. Müller was still digesting audibly, and hence it seemed the proper moment for adjourning.
Amid unanimous assurances that "this has been the most enjoyable evening this season," the leave-taking was finally effected, and the captain accompanied his last guests down the stairs, and returned after shooting the strong bolt at the house door.
As he turned off the gas in the drawing-room, he said to Frau Clara: "Quite interesting, this evening! These are two gentlemen we shall have to be on our guard against."
"Corporal Meyer! Have all this cleared out of the stable! Instantly! What beastly filth is this? What? The stable guard is not present? Then do it yourself; it won't hurt you. Forward, march! And then bring me the parole book!"