I was only so far vain
that I wished to make her vain of myself, and found it impossible,
even with the very best intentions, to force the intoxication from my
head to my heart.
But why repeat to thee the absolutely every-day story at length? Thou
thyself hast often related it to me of other honorable people. To the
old, well-known play in which I good-naturedly undertook a worn-out
part, there came in truth to her and me, and everybody, unexpectedly a
most peculiarly thought-out catastrophe.
As, according to my wont, I had assembled on a beautiful evening
a party in a garden, I wandered with the lady, arm in arm, at some
distance from the other guests, and exerted myself to strike out
pretty speeches for her. She cast her eyes down modestly, and returned
gently the pressure of my hand, when suddenly the moon broke through
the clouds behind us, and--she saw only her own shadow thrown forward
before her! She started and glanced wildly at me, then again on the
earth, seeking my shadow with her eyes, and what passed within her
painted itself so singularly on her countenance that I should have
burst into a loud laugh if it had not itself run ice-cold over my
back.
I let her fall from my arms in a swoon, shot like an arrow through the
terrified guests, reached the door, flung myself into the first chaise
which I saw on the stand, and drove back to the city, where this time,
to my cost, I had left the circumspect Bendel.
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