III.
“Suppose you come home and have some supper with me,” said the captain; “my house is very quiet, but I think perhaps a young man of your character may have no great objection to passing an evening in a quiet family.”
Cousin Hans’s heart leaped high with joy; he accepted the invitation in the modest manner peculiar to him, and they were soon on the way to No. 34.
How curiously fortune favored him to-day! Not many hours had passed since he saw her for the first time; and now, in the character of a special favorite of her father, he was hastening to pass the evening in her company.
The nearer they approached to No. 34, in the more life-like colors did the enchanting vision of Miss Schrappe stand before his eyes; the blonde hair curling over the forehead, the lithe figure, and then these roguish, light-blue eyes!
His heart beat so that he could scarcely speak, and as they mounted the stair he had to take firm hold of the railing; his happiness made him almost dizzy.
In the parlor, a large corner-room, they found no one. The captain went out to summon his daughter, and Hans heard him calling, “Betty!”
Betty! What a lovely name, and how well it suited that lovely being!
The happy lover was already thinking how delightful it would be when he came home from his work at dinner-time, and could call out into the kitchen: “Betty! is dinner ready?”
At this moment the captain entered the room again with his daughter. She came straight up to Cousin Hans, took his hand, and bade him welcome.