The wife especially
did not spare her. A highly gifted young man like Rafael Kaas,
with such excellent prospects in every way, must not, when little
more than twenty, burden himself with a middle-aged wife and a
number of children. He was far from rich, he had told her so
himself; his life would be that of a beast of burden, and that
too, before he had learned to bear the yoke. If he had to work, to
feed so many people, he might strain himself to the uttermost, he
would still remain mediocre. They would both suffer under this, be
disappointed and discontented. He must not pay so heavy a price
for an indiscretion for which she was ten times more to blame than
he. What did she imagine people would say? He who was so popular,
so sought after. They would fall upon her like rooks at a rooks'
parliament and pick her to pieces. They would, without exception,
believe the worst.
The husband asked her if she were quite sure that she was
enceinte: she ought to make quite certain.
Angelika Nazel reddened, and answered, half scornful, half
laughing, that she ought to know.
"Yes," he retorted, "many people have said that--who were
mistaken.
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