Steppenwolf returns to the gallery labeled “ALL GIRLS ARE YOURS” as a refuge from the previous adventure. He is transported back in time to the day he met Rosa Kreisler. This is a magical experience for Steppenwolf because he revisits this moment in his life in the body of a fifteen-year-old boy, but with the mind of a fifty-year-old man. He is thrilled with the bodily sensations—the energy, the lust, the “fever.”
Rosa appears and Steppenwolf raises his cap to her just as he did when he was a boy. Rosa smiles and continues walking. Their relationship never develops. Steppenwolf watches this replay of his past, but he is dissatisfied. He notices Rosa’s blush and decides to change the outcome of the scene. This time he greets her and proclaims his love for her. She responds in like terms, and “everything went differently and everything was good.” They spend their days together and grow to love one another. They share a kiss, and nothing more. After Rosa, Steppenwolf relives moments with all his loves—real, potential, and wished for—all the way up to Hermine. At that point, he stops. Rather than relive a moment with Hermine in the gallery, Steppenwolf exits in search of the real Hermine.
