I asked her jokingly once if she wanted to ruin me--
make a beggar out of me. It was only a joke, and I laughed heartily myself
as I said it. But I shouldn't have said it; she offered to leave the house
whenever I wanted her to--in short, divorce. She has told me that often
enough, but this time simply because of a joke. I said that I was sorry,
and I asked her pardon; I had never for a moment thought of such a thing
as that she might ruin me. 'Dear Andreas,' she asked me, 'can we never get
free from each other?' I do not know what I answered; I guess there was
not much sense to it, for she asked immediately for my key, as she had
lost her own. I gave it to her, and then she smiled. 'Smile again,' I
said, and she did it for my sake, and said smilingly that I was a big
baby. Yesterday morning I didn't see her before I got home from the
office. She was still working with the children's summer outfit and showed
me everything. She took out her handkerchief, and as she pulled it out
from her dress a tie fell out, a gentleman's red tie. I made out that I
did not see it; but I knew very well that the tie did not belong to me. I
knew it only too well.
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