Chapters 22-24 Summary

Two weeks later, Margot is still telling Albert not to be so depressed but to concentrate on her debut. Albert has been pouring out to seemingly Axel the feelings he cannot share with Margot. Axel talks about how misfortune and death can appear from nowhere. Perhaps, however, death comes before old age can ruin. Axel can talk endlessly, making up friends, shrewdly making fools of others. He always finds the witty or trite thing one needs to hear, showing that everything every invented is a clever trick. He watches Albert's torments as a first step to a roaring comedy that he means to stage manage. He tries to explain to himself that he likes Margot for her physical attributes, but knows that he shares a spiritual affinity with this vulgar Berlin girl. Margot glares at Axel for telling him in Albert's...