"After all, I have become engaged to-day," he said to himself,
with a certain quiet humor, and yet impressed by a feeling that he
had really given himself to the unknown.
II.
Six years had passed, and Fritz Bagger had made his mark, although
not as a lover. He had become Counsellor, and was particularly
distinguished for the skill and energy with which he brought
criminals to confession. It is thus that a man of fine and poetic
feelings can satisfy himself in such a business, for a time at
least: with the half of his soul he can lead a life which to
himself and others seems entire only because it is busy, because
it keeps him at work, and fills him with a consciousness of
accomplishing something practical and good. There is a youthful
working power, which needs not to look sharply out into the future
for a particular aim of feeling or desire. This power itself, by
the mere effort to keep in a given place, is for such an
organization, every day, an aim, a relish; and one can for a
number of years drive business so energetically, that he, too,
slips over that difficult time which in every twenty-four hours
threatens to meet him, the time between work and sleep, twilight,
when the other half of the soul strives to awaken.
Be it because his professional duties gave him no time or
opportunity for courtship, or for some other reason, Fritz Bagger
remained a bachelor; and a bachelor with the income of his
profession is looked upon as a rich man.
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