"Really? I suspected as much."
"But more than that; you may secure his happiness for life."
"Each man must secure his own."
"It will only cost you a visit to the Doctor."
"Is Lenz ill?"
"No! the case is shortly this. He must marry, and he wishes to do so; and the best wife for him is the Doctor's Amanda. I have reflected on the matter in every point of view. It seems difficult to persuade him to pluck up courage to go himself. He also thinks—he did not say so, but I know it—that he is not rich enough; but if his uncle would only make the proposal for him, and at the same time promise——"
"Really? I thought that was the point you were coming to. If my brother's son wants a wife and chooses one, he may get one himself; I am an old bachelor, and know nothing of such affairs."
"If his friends do nothing in the matter, Amanda will marry some one else. I know an apothecary who admires her extremely."
"And a very fitting wife she would be for him; but I am not Lenz's keeper."
"And suppose your nephew is taken in by a far less eligible person?"