Cacilie and Herr Sung’s elopement is the culmination of a romance that the Erlin household tries first to dismiss, then to police, and finally to end by sending Cacilie away. Cacilie makes her love unmistakable, Herr Sung denies the relationship even as the pair continue meeting openly, and the household’s intervention precipitates their departure together from Heidelberg.

Discovery of the Relationship

Frau Erlin initially tries to make Cacilie see the relationship through the household’s social prejudices, stressing Herr Sung’s Chinese identity and appearance as reasons the match should be regarded with disgust. Cacilie rejects that appeal and insists on her love. Her declaration changes Frau Erlin’s understanding: what she had taken for childish mischief is revealed as serious passion.

The disclosure does not bring the pair to conceal their meetings. Frau Erlin changes the seating arrangement so that Herr Sung sits at her end of the table, but Cacilie accepts the arrangement indifferently. She and Herr Sung continue their walks in the hills openly each afternoon, apparently undeterred by the household’s knowledge or disapproval. Their conduct makes the romance a visible conflict within the boarding-house rather than a private suspicion.

Denial and Escalating Pressure

At Professor Erlin’s insistence, Frau Erlin confronts Herr Sung about the walks and their effect on Cacilie’s reputation and the house. He responds with calm denials, saying that he does not understand what Frau Erlin means and that the reported meetings are untrue. Even when she tells him that Cacilie has confessed her love, he maintains the denial. His composed manner contrasts with the increasing agitation of the household, while the couple’s public walks continue to make the relationship difficult to dismiss.

The strain grows as Frau Erlin fears that the affair will damage the household’s standing in Heidelberg. Anna’s practical intervention leads to a cautious letter to Cacilie’s uncle in Berlin, proposing that he take her away. Once Frau Erlin has decided that she will lose both lodgers, she gives vent to her anger and tells Cacilie that she cannot remain in the house. The measure turns general disapproval into a direct effort to separate the couple.

The Planned Departure

The next day, Frau Erlin announces at supper that Cacilie must pack that night and take the train to Berlin in the morning, where her uncle will meet her at the Central Bahnhof. The public announcement is intended to make the decision humiliating as well as final. Cacilie answers briefly and does not openly challenge the plan at the table.

The household prepares for the departure as if it were settled. Herr Sung’s servant is told to bring Cacilie’s box downstairs that night so the porter can collect it before breakfast. The expected arrangement is a supervised journey to Berlin, followed by Cacilie’s meeting with her uncle—not a joint departure with Herr Sung.

Discovery and Consequences

When the servant reports that Cacilie is missing and her bag has gone, Frau Erlin finds the box still packed and locked, but Cacilie’s hat and cloak are gone from her room. She hurries to Herr Sung’s rooms and finds them empty too. Their luggage has been removed through the garden door, which is still open. On the table, they have left notes covering the month’s board and an approximate payment for additional expenses.

The notes settle the immediate practical question of what became of the household’s unpaid account, but not the more important one of where the couple have gone or what follows for them. The evidence confirms that they have left together before Cacilie’s planned removal to Berlin. The abrupt reversal completes the episode: the Erlins’ attempt to control the relationship results not in separation but in the lovers’ departure from the house.

Narrative Significance

The elopement is presented through the household’s escalating attempts to interpret and contain the relationship, ending in discovery through absence and practical traces rather than an account of the couple’s journey. First Cacilie’s avowal, then the pair’s conspicuous walks, and finally the empty rooms successively make the relationship harder to deny. The locked box, missing travel belongings, open garden door, and payment notes establish what happened without supplying an account of the lovers’ later life.

The departure also exposes the limits of Frau Erlin’s authority within her own house. She can arrange Cacilie’s removal and announce the plan publicly, but the couple act before it can be carried out. The episode’s decisive change is therefore from a romance discussed and contested by the household to a joint departure that the household discovers only after the fact.