The practice of the counsellor-at-law was very limited; but as he had a considerable fortune, in part from his wife, the couple—who were, moreover, childless—occupied a very comfortable flat in the Kaiserstrasse and kept up a good deal of social intercourse; chiefly, to be sure, to gratify Frau Amra’s wishes, for it is impossible that the counsellor-at-law, who seemed to participate only with a kind of tortured enthusiasm, took any pleasure in these affairs. The character of this fat man was most peculiar. No man living could have been more polite, more obliging, more yielding towards everybody, than he; but though one did not speak of it, perhaps, one felt that his over-friendly and flattering attitude was for one reason or another forced, that it was based upon timidity and lack of inner poise, and this affected one disagreeably. No spectacle is more unlovely than that of a man who despises himself, but who nevertheless out of cowardice and vanity would like to be amiable and to please; and, in my opinion, it was not otherwise with the counsellor-at-law, who went too far in his almost grovelling self-deprecation, so that he was utterly unable to keep the necessary amount of personal dignity. He was capable of saying to a lady whom he wished to escort to the table: “Dear madam, I am a disgusting person, but won’t you do me the honour?” And, having no gift for self-mockery, he would say this in a bittersweet, tortured, repulsive manner.
The practice of the counsellor-at-law was very limited; but as he had a considerable fortune, in part from his wife, the couple—who were, moreover, childless—occupied a very comfortable flat in the Kaiserstrasse and kept up a good deal of social intercourse; chiefly, to be sure, to gratify Frau Amra’s wishes, for it is impossible that the counsellor-at-law, who seemed to participate only with a kind of tortured enthusiasm, took any pleasure in these affairs. The character of this fat man was most peculiar. No man living could have been more polite, more obliging, more yielding towards everybody, than he; but though one did not speak of it, perhaps, one felt that his over-friendly and flattering attitude was for one reason or another forced, that it was based upon timidity and lack of inner poise, and this affected one disagreeably. No spectacle is more unlovely than that of a man who despises himself, but who nevertheless out of cowardice and vanity would like to be amiable and to please; and, in my opinion, it was not otherwise with the counsellor-at-law, who went too far in his almost grovelling self-deprecation, so that he was utterly unable to keep the necessary amount of personal dignity. He was capable of saying to a lady whom he wished to escort to the table: “Dear madam, I am a disgusting person, but won’t you do me the honour?” And, having no gift for self-mockery, he would say this in a bittersweet, tortured, repulsive manner.
The following anecdote is also based on fact: One day as the counsellor-at-law was out walking, a rough porter with a handcart came along and drove one wheel violently over his foot. The man stopped the cart too late and turned round—whereupon the counsellor-at-law, losing all control of himself, pale and with trembling cheeks, took off his hat with a profound bow and stammered: “I beg your pardon!”—Things of that sort evoke indignation. Yet this singular colossus seemed to be eternally plagued by an evil conscience. When he appeared with his wife on the Lerchenberg, the main promenade of the town, he greeted all and sundry—while now and then he cast a shy glance at Amra, striding with such wonderful elasticity at his side—as over-earnestly, timidly, and zealously as though he felt the need of bowing humbly to every lieutenant and begging forgiveness that he, precisely he, should be in possession of this beautiful woman; and the pathetically friendly expression of his mouth seemed to beg one not to make fun of him.
It has already been indicated that it is a question why precisely Amra should have married Counsellor-at-law Jacoby. He, on his part, loved her, and that with a love so passionate as is surely seldom found in people of his physique, and yet this love was humble and timid in accordance with the rest of his nature. Often, late at night, when Amra had already gone to rest in the big bedroom, the high windows of which were draped by flowered curtains that fell in plentiful folds, the counsellor-at-law would steal to the side of her heavy bed, so softly that one could not hear his footsteps, but merely felt the slow trembling of the floor and the furniture, kneel down, and with infinite care seize her hand. At such times Amra would draw up her eyebrows and regard her husband, who lay before her in the weak light of the night-lamp, silently and with an expression of sensual malice. But he, while he carefully drew back the chemise from
