..
And the day passes; but time stands still.
Now I have written this for my own pleasure only, and amused myself with
it as best I could. No sorrow weighs on me, but I long to be
away--where, I do not know, but far away, perhaps in Africa or India.
For my place is in the woods, in solitude...
GLAHN'S DEATH
A DOCUMENT OF 1861
I
The Glahn family can go on advertising as long as they please for
Lieutenant Thomas Glahn, who disappeared; but he will never come back.
He is dead, and, what is more, I know how he died.
To tell the truth, I am not surprised that his people should still keep
on seeking information; for Thomas Glahn was in many ways an uncommon
and likable man. I admit this, for fairness' sake, and despite the fact
that Glahn is still repellant to my soul, so that the bare memory of him
arouses hatred. He was a splendidly handsome man, full of youth, and
with an irresistible manner. When he looked at you with his hot animal
eyes, you could not but feel his power; even I felt it so. A woman, they
say, said: "When he looks at me, I am lost; I feel a sensation as if he
were touching me."
But Thomas Glahn had his faults, and I have no intention of hiding them,
seeing that I hate him. He could at times be full of nonsense like a
child, so kindly natured was he; and perhaps it was that which made him
so irresistible to women.
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