“No. You really didn’t need to tell me that. What’s more， you shouldn’t have told me. I’m just a child； why stand on so much ceremony with me？”
“It’s not so bad as that. A child， of course. But not so very small. You’re quite big. If you were a young lady， you wouldn’t dare to lock yourself so simply in a room with me.”
“We needn’t worry about that. I just want to say： my knowing you so well isn’t much protection to me， it only relieves you of the effort of keeping up pretenses before me. And yet you’re paying me a compliment. Stop it， I beg you， do stop it. Anyhow， I don’t know you everywhere and all the time， least of all in this darkness. It would be much better if you were to light up. No， perhaps not. 7）At any rate I’ll keep it in mind that you have been threatening me.”
“What？ Am I supposed to have threatened you？ But， look here. I’m so pleased that you’ve come at last. I say “at last” because it’s already rather late. I can’t understand why you’ve come so late. But it’s possible that in the joy of seeing you I have been speaking at random and you took up my words in the wrong sense. I’ll admit ten times over that I said something of the kind， I’ve made all kinds of threats， anything you like. Only no quarreling， for Heaven’s sake！ But how could you think of such a thing？ How could you hurt me so？ Why do you insist on spoiling this brief moment of your presence here？ A stranger would be more 8）obliging than you are.”
“That I can well believe； that’s no great discovery. No stranger could come any nearer to you than I am already by nature. You know that，too， so why all this 9）pathos？ If you’re only wanting to stage a comedy I’ll go away immediately.”
“What？ You have the 10）impudence to tell me that？ You make a little too bold. After all， it’s my room you’re in. It’s my wall you’re rubbing your fingers on like mad. My room， my wall！ And besides， what you are saying is ridiculous as well as impudent. You say your nature forces you to speak to me like that. Is that so？ Your nature forces you？ That’s kind of your nature. Your nature is mine， and if I feel friendly to you by nature， then you mustn’t be anything else.”
“Is that friendly？”
“I’m speaking of earlier on.”
“Do you know how I’ll be later on？”
“I don’t know anything.”
And I went to the bed table and lit the candle on it. At that time I had neither gas nor electric light in my room. Then I sat for a while at the table till I got tired of it， put on my greatcoat， took my hat from the sofa， and blew out the candle. As I went out I tripped over the leg of a chair.
On the stairs I met one of the tenants from my floor.
“Going out again already， you 11）rascal？” he asked， pausing with his legs firmly straddled over two steps.
“What can I do？” I said， “I’ve just had a ghost in my room.”
“You say that exactly as if you had just found a hair in your soup.”
“You’re making a joke of it. But let me tell you， a ghost is a ghost.”
“How true. But what if one doesn’t believe in ghosts at all？”
“Well， do you think I believe in ghosts？ But how can my not believing help me？”
“Quite simply. You don’t need to feel afraid if a ghost actually turns up.”
“Oh， that’s only a secondary fear. The real fear is a fear of what caused the 12）apparition. And that fear doesn’t go away. I have it fairly powerfully inside me now.” Out of sheer nervousness I began to hunt through all my pockets.