The Song of Songs

loped figure for her age, who carried her school-

ort. Her rainy-day boots went to the cobbler time and again, and between the wavy ends of her cotton glo

looked out eagerly from behind an upper lip somewhat too short, and with the two famous "Lilly eyes"-he who saw her did not think of the shabbiness of her dress, did not suspect that this delicately shaped, broad breast was bent for hours and hours over sewin

for a long time the poems composed in her praise in

en passed by, doffing their caps-they had met her at the skating-rink-she was overcome by giddiness, or a sinking sensation, so suddenly did the blood mount to her head. The aftertaste of the meetings was delicious.

manner disarmed all enmity. If they hid her school-bag she merely entreated, "Please give it back to me." If they stuck her up on the stove

as she changed her friendships with startling rapidity, feeling in duty bound to respond to all overtures of intimacy. Consequently her affecti

rom the platform, sounded more like a caress than a reproach. As head of the newcomers in the 1 B class she

Cat eyes," "nixie eyes," are samples of the epithets bestowed upon them. Some maintained they were violet, some knew for sure she p

ar class into the Selecta, the class for advanced pupils, for it

dressed by the first name; the throwing of paper balls ceased, and no one on going home found bits of paper stuck in her hair. Phrases lik

least love affair come her way. Such trivialities as anonymous bouquets or verses bearing the super

rs, of evergreen cypresses and a sky eternally blue, of pity and yearning for

uler is still used on pupils' knuckles and tongues are stuck out behind the teacher's back in revenge. He gav

ough a maiden's soul. How much greater the charm when a suffering young man

t name w

They assigned him the easiest classes, and as soon as they noticed the fever stains burning on his cheeks, they obtained a substitute in his place and sent him home. But they succeeded in securing only a short respite, during which the dying man became a burden to the teaching staff. Feeling this himself he put

llowed by the slender, good-looking young man with a slight stoop, who stood at Miss Hennig's right side during morning services in the main hall and dog-eared the pages of his hymn-book while the anthem was being sung. He wore a tigh

ost attentively, for although the subject is not obligatory, and you will not have to pass an examination in it, it is of great importance for gener

s he strutted o

r the corners of his mouth. A smile both bashful and sarcastic flitted across his face. He looked

, began to giggle, and soon half the class had follow

life full of activity and vigour lies ahead of you. I may rejoice, too, for I am permitted to speak to you as soul to soul; which is a piece o

ouse. From that moment on h

story, however defiant, revolutionary, or alien the voice of the chosen one that uttered it, later exegesis used as moral fodder with which to satiate the masses. The only personages with whom this did not succeed were the men of the Renaissance. The nine times wise branded Plato as a shield bearer of Christianity,

one. They felt he was talking his life away, but in the very moment they realise

dead, he pictured to them the time and the men. The accumulation of

rship. They divined that they were listening to a confession of faith; and they attached themselves to

ably beautiful melodies being poured over her. Since everything in her life and imagination had hitherto centred about m

ops of perspiration on his forehead, saw the flames burning on his cheeks; she wanted to weep, to laugh, she wanted to cry: "Stop!" But she might not. So she sat motionless, and listened t

ile breath remains in my body. There between cypresses and evergreen oaks, temples and palaces sprang up in white glory from the soil, seeming like a part of it. What is clay here is marble there; what is routine here is free creative energy there; our feeble imitation

tive faculty and a compelling emotionalism. To hear her Catholicism praised did her heart good, but why it should be linked, almost as a matter of course, with the wicked heathens, whom she had been taught to despise and deplore, was a riddle to

flute of Pan pasturing his long-haired goats on the shining meadows of asphodel, saw the evergreen forest clambering up the slopes of the Apennines to their snow-clad peaks. She breathed

A consuming, tortured look of yearning shot from his eyes as t

, snatched up his hat, and rushed from the room. Sacred silence remained. After a while

ke her escape into the street alone. Hum

n the Selecta. The waves set in motion by the gr

ome facts about the young instructor's life. It was absolutely necessary, she reported, for D

he money and since the city would not assume the cost of so long a leave of absence, especially a

e girl proposed, and the oth

lt as if his life had already been

urgent deliberation. Officers were chosen, and Lilly had the inexpre

glacés and fifteen cups of chocolate, business expenses subsequently to be divided among them. Various promising plans were submitted for consideration. Emily Faber suggested that a public reading of Romeo and Juliet with assigned r?les be give

uartette, proposed an amateur concert to be given jointly by th

to be presented to well-to-do citizens. This plan gave less satisfaction, but in the end the girls agr

all the transactions, and her h

remained on about the same level, but enthusiasm for the cause markedly diminished. Not that Dr. M?lzer's subsequent lectures offered ground for disillusionment. Rich

the quartette had been refused permission to co?perate with the Selecta, and a permit from the po

y fell to Lilly's share. Lilly well knew the way to the pawnbroker's, and she did not have to pluck up courage before relinq

ed a great deal, each time putting his handkerch

lectures on the history of art would

ported he had h

ask for an explanati

s dying!" was th

a shadow stirred, no hand appeared at the window-curtain. But the little lamp continued to burn patiently for hours and hours, despite its weariness, all t

axed in Lilly's soul. She pictured him lying there gasping for b

d to pass it once, and lacked the courage to return. Then she was seized by a heroic resolve. She went to the florist's shop, and sacrificing the two

steps, and rang at the door of the second

and mumbling her lips opened the doo

aid the woman, a

ept mumbling. For a week she had been worshipping a false idol. Disappointed, she was about to steal down the stai

coat were raised to cover his neck, which apparently was collarless. His hair was in wild disorder, and the ends of his mo

. He appeared to recognise her

et and run away, but she remained

here by your class,

nswered eagerly. Th

," he continued with a shy smile. "It might have very serious consequences

usts of great men. In dismay she observed a little room with only one window, an unmade bed, an open card table,

etchedly than we

hairs, feeling less embarrassed than she had expected to

he young ladies

he flowers she stil

," she said, p

t a word of thanks, and pr

re the last-but my first. So you can

r eyes growin

pain, Dr. M?lzer?"

lau

our soul seems to soar in a balloon away over everything-over cities, countries, seas, over centuries, too

d him. Why, he was the t

seemed suddenly to drop away from him. He stared at

ked in a voice even shrill

Lilly Cz

to him, as he had been in

to become

Dr. M?

to a pest-house and wash sores. Marry a drunkard, who will beat you a

not j

blood and nerve to live his own life can teach others to live-he's good enough for that. But he whose blood flows through his body like fluid fire, whose yearning spurts from

please," Lil

ld are

xte

a human being-you wouldn't believe it-I, too, once stretched two sturdy arms longingly to heaven; I, too, once l

die," she cried, ju

lau

f a stick. The cat couldn't run away, she couldn't howl, she couldn't do anything but just remain on all fours and cough and choke and cough and choke-until the seco

r face away to

I?" sh

on the left end of the first bench. I remember. I said to myself, 'What a pair of improbable eyes! Such eyes the magic dogs of Andersen's tales

lly la

You must not carry away too deathlike a picture fr

wered wit

s from sheer longing. I thought to myself: 'She's g

there very, very much?

ether he would like t

y thing that woul

down a moment with

? Tell the young ladies of your class that I'm very grate

g-table, which was half filled with a pale liquid, and held it to his mouth. He groped for it eagerly. After drinking he fell

piness to

the wall not far away. He wanted to sit up and speak, but he seemed not to have recovered sufficient stre

ught Lilly. "What gre

rasp of both her own. They felt hot and clammy, and his pulse beat down to

heart, love of the senses, love springing from pity. One of them everybody must have if he's not to be a fossil. Two are dangerous. All three lead to ruin. Be on g

he asked, dreading to hear that some

ok his

come

the ardour with which

sends you agai

t aside a

stammered. "Not a so

ace lengthened, his eyes filled with tears. He stretched out h

whisper

did no

unmarried men who live the way I do-even if the man is their teacher and sick as I am. Tell no one that you have been her

e again?" Her ey

ed in a voice l

through the doorway. The key w

o confess everything and relieve her feelings in tears. The little brown Jewess had a soft

and social position found pictorial expression in a round paunch, and whose waistcoat butt

had left the house, he extracted all the completer a confession from his daughter. He learned

hains were worn only by those among the grain merchants who had remained below on the social sc

eans had been found to enable him to make a lengthy sojourn in the south. All he needed to d

he station. Lilly and Rosalie, who had learned the time of his leaving at papa

in a thick scarf, his fiery

flung themselves into each other'

iend to have an éclair with her, for it

nfectionery shop smiling at each other and loo