Krokowski went on to speak of a mushroom, famous in classical antiquity and since, on account of its form and the powers ascribed to it⁠—a fungus in whose Latin name the epithet impudicus occurred; and which in its form was suggestive of love, in its odour of death. For it was a striking fact that the odour of the Impudicus was that of animal decay: it gave out that odour when the viscous, greenish, spore-bearing fluid dripped from its bell-shaped top. Yet even today, among the ignorant, the mushroom passed for an aphrodisiac.

All that, Lawyer Paravant found, had been a bit strong for the ladies. He was still here, having hearkened to the Hofrat’s propaganda, and stuck out the melting season. Likewise Frau Stöhr, who had shown strength of character and set her face against every temptation to unlawful departure, expressed herself at table to the effect that Krokowski had been positively “obscure” today, with his classical mushroom. She had actually said obscure, the poor creature, and gone on making one howler after another.