But the dream seemed to be drawing to a close. Of late a cold hand had
touched Baron Robert, at first considerately, then more and more
imperiously, to rouse him. He could no longer shut his eyes and ears to
the signs and warnings: for they daily became plainer and more frequent,
not merely in his mirror, but also in the unintentionally cruel words of
the world, that other still more inconsiderate mirror. The pretty
ingenue of his theatre, one of his last conquests, had recently after a
private supper, while sitting on his knee and stroking his face, said to
him with overflowing tenderness:
"What a wonderfully handsome man you must have been!"
He had thrust her from him like a viper with so hasty a movement that the
poor girl hardly knew what had happened. She did not suspect that she
had thrust a dagger into the heart of the man she loved. At balls, young
girls now, after a rapid waltz, whispered, blushing: "I am afraid you are
tired," and in the German other partners, who were neither so handsome
nor so elegant as he, but young and lively, attracted more attention from
the ladies and obtained more favours.
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