"
That was all correct enough, and yet only half the truth. Effi cared
but little for the possession of more or less commonplace things, but
when she walked up and down Unter den Linden with her mother, and,
after inspecting the most beautiful show-windows, went into Demuth's
to buy a number of things for the honeymoon tour of Italy, her true,
character showed itself. Only the most elegant articles found favor in
her sight, and, if she could not have the best, she forewent the
second-best, because this second meant nothing to her. Beyond
question, she was able to forego,--in that her mother was right,--and
in this ability to forego there was a certain amount of
unpretentiousness. But when, by way of exception, it became a question
of really possessing a thing, it always had to be something out of the
ordinary. In this regard she was pretentious.
CHAPTER IV
Cousin Dagobert was at the station when the ladies took the train for
Hohen-Cremmen. The Berlin sojourn had been a succession of happy days,
chiefly because there had been no suffering from disagreeable and, one
might almost say, inferior relatives. Immediately after their arrival
Effi had said: "This time we must remain incognito, so far as Aunt
Therese is concerned. It will not do for her to come to see us here in
the hotel. Either Hotel du Nord or Aunt Therese; the two would not go
together at all." The mother had finally agreed to this, had, in fact,
sealed the agreement with a kiss on her daughter's forehead.
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