Cavalry captain von Hecht is stationed in the small provincial town of M. His relationship with the lovely young wife of a fat merchant by the name of Starke provides him his only distraction. But von Hecht is already thirty-six, he has gotten over the romantic notions of his youth, and in his relationship with his mistress there is real passion, dangerous passion, on only one side.

Genre: short story
Length: 2,200 words
Translated by Juan LePuen
Date of English translation: 2012

Heinrich Mann, 1871-1950; older brother of Thomas.