Innstetten was agreed, and when the carriage drove up three days later Effi got in with her husband and accompanied him to the corner of the forest.  “Stop here, Geert.  You drive on to the left now, but I am going to the right, down to the beach and back through the ‘Plantation.’  It is rather far, but not too far.  Dr. Hannemann tells me every day that exercise is everything, exercise and fresh air.  And I almost believe he is right.  Give my regards to all the company, only you needn’t say anything to Sidonie.”

The drives on which Effi accompanied her husband as far as the corner of the forest were repeated every week, but even on the intervening days she insisted that she should strictly observe the doctor’s orders.  Not a day passed that she did not take her prescribed walk, usually in the afternoon, when Innstetten began to become absorbed in his newspapers.  The weather was beautiful, the air soft and fresh, the sky cloudy.  As a rule she went out alone, after saying to Roswitha:  “Roswitha, I am going down the turnpike now and then to the right to the place with the merrygo-round.  There I shall wait for you, meet me there.  Then we can walk back by the avenue of birches or through the ropewalk.  But do not come unless Annie is asleep.  If she is not asleep send Johanna.  Or, rather, just let it go.  It is not necessary; I can easily find the way.”

The first day they met as planned.  Effi sat on a bench by a long shed, looking over at a low yellow plaster house with exposed timbers painted black, an inn at which the lower middle classes drank their glass of beer or played at ombre.  It was hardly dusk, but the windows were already bright, and their gleams of light fell upon the piles of snow and the few trees standing at one side.  “See, Roswitha, how beautiful that looks.”

This was repeated for a few days.  But usually, when Roswitha reached the merry-go-round and the shed, nobody was there, and when she came back home and entered the hall Effi came to meet her, saying:  “Where in the world have you been, Roswitha?  I have been back a long time.”

Thus it went on for weeks.  The matter of the hussars was about given up, on account of objections made by the citizens.  But as the negotiations were not yet definitely closed and had recently been referred to the office of the commander in chief, Crampas was called to Stettin to give his opinion to the authorities.

From there he wrote the second day to Innstetten:  “Pardon me, Innstetten, for taking French leave.  It all came so quickly.  Here, however, I shall seek to draw the matter out long, for it is a pleasure to be out in the world again.  My regards to your gracious wife, my amiable patroness.”

He read it to Effi, who remained silent.  Finally she said: 

“It is very well thus.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“That he is gone.  To tell the truth, he always says the same things.  When he is back he will at least for a time have something new to say.”