He followed at her heels. At Hamburg he wrote a
letter to his wife in which he said that they had made a mistake and
that it was immoral not to rectify it. He asked her to divorce him.
And she divorced him.
A year after these events the Baron and the cousin were married. They
had a child. But that was a fact which did not interfere with their
happiness. On the contrary! What a wealth of new ideas germinated in
their minds in their voluntary exile! How strong were the winds which
blew here!
He encouraged her to write a book on "young criminals." The press tore
it to pieces. She was furious and swore that she would never write
another book. He asked her whether she wrote for praise, whether she
was ambitious?--She replied by a question: Why did he write?--A little
quarrel arose. He said it was refreshing to hear her express views
which did not echo his own--always his own.--Always his own? What did
he mean? Didn't she have _views of her own_? She henceforth made it
her business to prove to him on every occasion that she was capable of
forming her own opinions; and to prevent any errors on his part she
took good care that they always differed from his. He told her he did
not care what views she held as long as she loved him.
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