Jadassohn? But that's the sort of girl Kathchen Zillich is." Here Guste laughed loudly, Diederich looked so flabbergasted. She moved on and he followed her. "With Jadassohn?" he asked anxiously. Then the noise of the machines stopped, the bell rang to cease work, and the employes were already disappearing across the yard. Diederich shrugged his shoulders. "What Fräulein Zillich does leaves me cold," he said. "At most I am sorry for the old pastor, if that's the sort of person she is. Are you quite sure of it?" Guste looked away. "You can find that out for yourself!" Whereat Diederich felt flattered, and smiled.
"Leave the gas on," he shouted to the machinist, who was passing. "I'll turn it off myself." The rag room just happened to be wide open to let the workers out. "Oh!" cried Guste, "how romantic it looks in there." Back there in the shadow she had caught a glimpse of grey mounds splashed with many bright patches, and above these what seemed to be a forest of branches. "Ah," she said, as she drew nearer, "it is so dark here I thought …—But they are only heaps of rags and hot water pipes. …" She made a grimace. Diederich drove off the women who were resting on the sacks, in spite of orders. Several were knitting, although they had hardly ceased work. Others were eating. "No doubt you find this very comfortable!" he snorted. "Cadging heat at my expense!" They got up slowly, in silence, without a sign of resistance, and passing the strange lady, at whom they all turned to look curiously, they clattered out in their men's boots, heavy as a herd of cattle and enveloped in the odour in which they lived. Diederich kept a sharp watch on each of them until they were outside. "Fischer!" he suddenly shouted, "what has that fat one under her skirts?" With his ambiguous grin the machinist answered. "That's only because she is expecting a certain event." Whereupon Diederich turned away dissatisfied and explained to Guste. "I thought I had caught one of them. They steal rags, you know, «to make chil-
