Once the cadet attempted diffidently to pay the housekeeper for her services, and also for the supper, but she refused his money with a laugh, and said that everything was already settled; and the young soldier had reveled in this manner in boundless bliss for four months, when, by an unfortunate accident, he met his mistress in the street one day.  She was alone, but in spite of this she contracted her delicate, finely-arched eyebrows angrily, when he was about to speak to her, and turned her head away.  This hurt the honest young fellow’s feelings, and when that evening she drew him to her bosom, that was rising and falling tempestuously under the black velvet that covered it, he remonstrated with her quietly, but emphatically.—­She made a little grimace, and looking at him coldly and angrily, she at last said, shortly:  “I forbid you to take any notice of me out of doors.  I do not choose to recognize you; do you understand?”

The cadet was surprised and did not reply, but the harmony of his pleasures was destroyed by a harsh discord.  For some time he bore his misery in silence and with resignation, but at last the situation became unendurable; his mistress’s fiery kisses seemed to mock him, and the pleasure which she gave him to degrade him, so at last he summoned up courage, and in his open way, he came straight to the point.

“What do you think of our future, Angelica?” She wrinkled her brows a little.  “Do not let us talk about it; at any rate not to-day.”  “Why not?  We must talk about it sooner or later,” he replied, “and I think it is high time for me to explain my intentions to you, if I do not wish to appear as a dishonorable scoundrel in your eyes.”  She looked at him in surprise.  “I look upon you as one of the best and most honorable of men, Max,” she said, soothingly, after a pause.  “And do you trust me also?” “Of course I do.”  “Are you convinced that I love you honestly?” “Quite.”  “Then do not hesitate any longer to bestow your hand upon me,” her lover said, in conclusion.  “What are you thinking about?” she cried, quickly, in a tone of refusal.  “What is to be the end of our connection?  What is at any rate not permissible with a woman, is wrong and dishonorable with a girl.  You yourself must feel lowered if you do not become my wife as soon as possible.”  “What a narrow-minded view,” Angelica replied, angrily, “but as you wish it, I will give you my opinion on the subject, but ... by letter.”  “No, no; now, directly.”

The pretty girl did not speak for some time, and looked down, but suddenly she looked at her lover, and a malicious, mocking smile lurked in the corners of her mouth.  “Well, I love you, Max, I love you really and ardently,” she said, carelessly; “but I can never be your wife.  If you were an officer I might perhaps marry you; yes, I certainly would, but as it is, it is impossible.”  “Is that your last word?” the cadet said, in great excitement.  She only nodded, and then put her full, white arms round his neck, with all the security of a mistress who is granting some favor to her slave; but on that occasion she was mistaken.  He sprang up, seized his sword and hurried out of the room, and she let him go, for she felt certain that he would come back again, but he did not do so, and when she wrote to him, he did not answer her letters, and still did not come; so at last she gave him up.