And it was the same thing in my marriage,' he added more hoarsely.

'I did not believe this girl could care for me; I must not intrude; I must preserve the foppery of my indifference.

What an impotent picture!' 'Ay, we have the same blood,' moralised Gotthold.

'You are drawing, with fine strokes, the character of the born sceptic.' 'Sceptic ?--coward!' cried Otto.

'Coward is the word.