But happily, now that he had given him the wink, the Herr could corroborate it himself by going to the theater tonight.  Ah, it would be a great joke—­quite colossal! if he took a front seat where she could see him.  And the good man rubbed his hands in gleeful anticipation.

Hoffman had listened to him with a slow repugnance that was only equal to his gradual conviction that the explanation was a true one, and that he himself had been ridiculously deceived.  The mystery of his fair companion’s costume, which he had accepted as part of the “show”; the inconsistency of her manner and her evident occupation; her undeniable wish to terminate the whole episode with that single interview; her mingling of worldly aplomb and rustic innocence; her perfect self-control and experienced acceptance of his gallantry under the simulated attitude of simplicity—­all now struck him as perfectly comprehensible.  He recalled the actress’s inimitable touch in certain picturesque realistic details in the dairy—­which she had not spared him; he recognized it now even in their bowered confidences (how like a pretty ballet scene their whole interview on the rustic bench was!), and it breathed through their entire conversation—­to their theatrical parting at the close!  And the whole story of the photograph was, no doubt, as pure a dramatic invention as the rest!  The Princess’s romantic interest in him—­that Princess who had never appeared (why had he not detected the old, well-worn, sentimental situation here?)—­was all a part of it.  The dark, mysterious hint of his persecution by the police was a necessary culmination to the little farce.  Thank Heaven! he had not “risen” at the Princess, even if he had given himself away to the clever actress in her own humble role.  Then the humor of the whole situation predominated and he laughed until the tears came to his eyes, and his forgotten ancestors might have turned over in their graves without his heeding them.  And with this humanizing influence upon him he went to the theater.

It was capacious even for the town, and although the performance was a special one he had no difficulty in getting a whole box to himself.  He tried to avoid this public isolation by sitting close to the next box, where there was a solitary occupant—­an officer—­apparently as lonely as himself.  He had made up his mind that when his fair deceiver appeared he would let her see by his significant applause that he recognized her, but bore no malice for the trick she had played on him.  After all, he had kissed her—­he had no right to complain.  If she should recognize him, and this recognition led to a withdrawal of her prohibition, and their better acquaintance, he would be a fool to cavil at her pleasant artifice.  Her vocation was certainly a more independent and original one than that he had supposed; for its social quality and inequality he cared nothing.  He found himself longing for the glance of her calm blue eyes, for the pleasant smile