"
"Oh, how hard you are!" murmured the countess.
"What would you have?" said Wilhelm. Then with a sudden inspiration:
"A woman has every right to love; but then you have loved--twice,"
"No, no, not even once. I thought so perhaps, but--"
"But, according to your own assertion this afternoon, one has been
in love really if only one seriously believes one is. And it is
thankless to deny one's love later on. Do not contradict yourself."
"And you, monsieur le philosophe," she returned, raising her head,
and her burning gaze encompassed him as with a circle of fire, "do
you not contradict yourself too? A little while ago you were
demonstrating to me that you were a part of nature, and that unknown
natural forces were at work within you, directing all you did, and
to-day you extol the mortification of the flesh, which certainly has
nothing to do with your unknown natural forces."
He was going to reply, but she laid her soft hand upon his mouth.
"Oh, please, monsieur le philosophe, do not prove to me that I am
wrong. Be indulgent to my inconsistencies, as well as to everything
else, I know I am full of contradictions. I am no German
philosopher. But nature too is full of contradictions--first day,
then night--now summer, now winter.
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