Then, in some pain, he put the picture away from him. He felt full of barrenness.

‘What was her name?’ Gudrun asked Loerke.

‘Annette von Weck,’ Loerke replied reminiscent. ‘Ja, sie war hubsch. She was pretty — but she was tiresome. She was a nuisance, — not for a minute would she keep still — not until I’d slapped her hard and made her cry — then she’d sit for five minutes.’

He was thinking over the work, his work, the all important to him.

‘Did you really slap her?’ asked Gudrun, coolly.

He glanced back at her, reading her challenge.

‘Yes, I did,’ he said, nonchalant,