“Yes, everybody is an employee.  But, I think, we can find private quarters.”

“I think so too.  And we will look for them the first thing in the morning.”

The next morning was as beautiful as the evening had been, and they took coffee out of doors.  Innstetten received a few letters, which had to be attended to promptly, and so Effi decided at once to employ the hour thus left free for her in looking for quarters.  She first walked past an inclosed meadow, then past groups of houses and fields of oats, finally turning into a road which ran through a kind of gully to the sea.  Where this gully road struck the beach there stood an inn shaded by tall beech trees, not so aristocratic as the “Fahrenheit,” a mere restaurant, in fact, which because of the early hour was entirely empty.  Effi sat down at a point with a good view and hardly had she taken a sip of the sherry she had ordered when the inn-keeper stepped up to engage her in conversation, half out of curiosity and half out of politeness.

“We like it very well here,” she said, “my husband and I. What a splendid view of the bay!  Our only worry is about a place to stay.”

“Well, most gracious Lady, that will be hard.”

“Why, it is already late in the season.”

“In spite of that.  Here in Sassnitz there is surely nothing to be found, I can guarantee you.  But farther along the shore, where the next village begins—­you can see the shining roofs from here—­there you might perhaps find something.”

“What is the name of the village?”

“Crampas.”

Effi thought she had misunderstood him.  “Crampas,” she repeated, with an effort.  “I never heard the word as the name of a place.  Nothing else in the neighborhood?”

“No, most gracious Lady, nothing around here.  But farther up, toward the north, you will come to other villages, and in the hotel near Stubbenkammer they will surely be able to give you information.  Addresses are always left there by people who would be willing to rent rooms.”

Effi was glad to have had the conversation alone and when she reported it a few moments later to her husband, keeping back only the name of the village adjoining Sassnitz, he said:  “Well, if there is nothing around here the best thing will be to take a carriage, which, incidentally, is always the way to take leave of a hotel, and without any ado move farther up toward Stubbenkammer.  We can doubtless find there some idyllic spot with a honeysuckle arbor, and, if we find nothing, there is still left the hotel, and they are all alike.”

Effi was willing, and about noon they reached the hotel near Stubbenkammer, of which Innstetten had just spoken, and there ordered a lunch.  “But not until half an hour from now.  We intend to take a walk first and view the Hertha Lake.  I presume you have a guide?”

Following the affirmative answer a middle-aged man approached our travelers.  He looked as important and solemn as though he had been at least an adjunct of the ancient Hertha worship.