As he
worked his way through the crowd of well-dressed people, he heard them
murmuring on all sides: "Poor young fellow! Ha! what a cursed bedlam
it is!" The mysterious words of the crone had, oddly enough, given
this ludicrous adventure a sort of tragic turn; and the youth, before
unobserved, was now looked after with a certain sympathy. The ladies,
for his fine shape and handsome face, which the glow of inward anger
was rendering still more expressive, forgave him this awkward step, as
well as the dress he wore, though it was utterly at variance with all
mode. His pike-gray frock was shaped as if the tailor had known the
modern form only by hearsay; and his well-kept black satin lower
habiliments gave the whole a certain pedagogic air, to which the gait
and gesture of the wearer did not at all correspond.
The student had almost reached the end of the alley which leads out to
the Linke Bath; but his breath could stand such a rate no longer. From
running, he took to walking; but scarcely did he yet dare to lift an
eye from the ground; for he still saw apples and cakes dancing round
him, and every kind look from this or that fair damsel was to him but
the reflex of the mocking laughter at the Black Gate. In this mood, he
had got to the entrance of the bath; one group of holiday people after
the other were moving in. Music of wind-instruments resounded from the
place, and the din of merry guests was growing louder and louder.
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