Old Mr. Niemeyer once told
me, in his best days, when I was still half a child, that proper
feeling is the essential thing, and if we have that the worst cannot
befall us, but if we have it not, we are in eternal danger, and what
is called the Devil has sure power over us. For the mercy of God, is
this my state?"
She laid her head upon her arms and wept bitterly. When she
straightened up again, calmed, she gazed out into the garden. All was
so still, and her ear could detect a low sweet sound, as of falling
rain, coming from the plane trees. This continued for a while. Then
from the village street came the sound of a human voice. The old
nightwatchman Kulicke was calling out the hour. When at last he was
silent she heard in the distance the rattling of the passing train,
some two miles away. This noise gradually became fainter and finally
died away entirely--Still the moonlight lay upon the grass plot and
there was still the low sound, as of falling rain upon the plane
trees. But it was only the gentle playing of the night air.
CHAPTER XXV
[The following evening Innstetten met Effi at the station in Berlin
and said he had thought she would not keep her word, as she had not
when she came to Berlin to select their apartment. In a short time he
began to bestir himself to make a place for his wife in Berlin
society. At a small party early in the season he tactlessly twitted
her about Crampas and for days thereafter she felt haunted by the
Major's spirit.
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