To kiss
her in those drawing rooms with their betraying mirrors, and their
portieres, and carpets was hardly possible. He was frequently asked
to lunch or dinner, and he often went with Frau Ellrich and Loulou
to the opera or theater, but all these opportunities were not
favorable for young lovers. Loulou wore beautiful frocks, which made
her much admired; the people were formal, and tolerated nothing that
was not ultra polite and polished, in short, it was impossible to be
true and natural as things had been in the forest, where the birds
and the happy little squirrels served for playfellows.
Loulou was the first to have pity on Wilhelm's discomfort, and to
find means to give their intercourse in Berlin at least a little of
the beautiful unconstraint of the old times. Under the pretext that
she wished to improve herself in drawing, she obtained many precious
hours spent in the blue-room or in the winter garden, where their
hands often found opportunities to clasp, and their lips to seek
each other's. On the strength of Loulou's English education, which
had made her independent and self-reliant, and had freed her from
any affectation of shyness, she often walked with Wilhelm to parts
of the town which she did not know, or which she had only seen from
the windows of a carriage.
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