"Fraeulein," said Fanny, "would it
matter if I had a bath? Is it too late? I'll turn it on myself and dry
it afterwards."
What did the woman mind if Fanny had a bath? Fat and beautiful, she had
nothing left to wish for, and contentedly she gave her the corner room
overlooking the canal and the theatre square, wishing her a good-night
full of German blessings. The water ran boiling out of the tap, and the
smoke curled up over the looking-glass and the window-sill.
When the bath was full to the brim she got in, lay back, and pulled open
the window with her toe. The beautiful French theatre, piebald with snow
and shadow, shone over the window-sill. The Cathedral clock struck out
ten chimes, whirling and singing over her head, the voices of the little
boys died down, the last had thrown his last snowball and gone to bed.
The steam rose up like a veil before the window, and once again,
between the grey walls of her bath--so like her cradle and her
coffin--she meditated upon the riches and treasure of the passing days.
"And yet," echoed the thoughts in that still water travelling still, "to
travel is not to move across the earth."
Peering back into the past, frowning in the effort to string forgotten
words together, Fanny whispered upon the surface of the water:
"The strange things of travel,
The East and the West,
The hill beyond the hill--"
But the poem was shattered as the voice of the bath woman called to her
through the door.
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