When I returned from the session she said to me, "I am sure you have no news that you are concealing from me?"
I could truthfully assure her that I had none, and after that she seemed as tranquil as if she had been speaking of an indifferent subject. And yet this grief preyed on her incessantly.
Annette received many letters; and, as she could have nothing to do with any one without feeling a personal interest in him, she would always have something to eat and drink ready for the country letter-carrier. She soon knew all about the toil and trouble inseparable from his work, and also inquired in regard to his family circumstances, and assisted him as well as she could.
She ordered a sheep-skin coat for him, but he was obliged to decline it, because in his walks over hill and dale the weight of it would have been insupportable. She presented the skin to a poor old man; and, indeed, tried to do good to every one in the village and neighborhood. The oldest house in the neighborhood is yet standing down in the valley. It is built of logs, and is known as the hut. The smoke fills the whole house and forces its way out through the crevices.
Annette found this smoky atmosphere particularly grateful. She often went down to the hut, and the people would come from the houses near by and listen to her stories and her strange jokes. She was always in good spirits on her return.
Annette had once encountered Rautenkron. She attempted to engage him in conversation, but he rudely turned on his heel; and when she was telling us of the manhater, my wife made a remark which I shall never forget:
"This man must have come from a respected and well-to-do family, for the child of poor parents can never become a misanthrope."
Although Annette kindly cared for the poor and did not permit herself to be repelled by any rudeness or vulgarity on their part, she was both severe and void of pity with the faults of those who were in better circumstances.
Rimminger, who had taken his discharge and had married the only daughter of the rich owner of the saw-mill, endeavored, as an old comrade of her deceased husband, to bring about friendly relations between Annette and his household. She kept him at a distance, however, and expressed herself quite forcibly on the subject. She maintained that the young wife always looked like an ennuied duchess, and was constantly trying to show that she had been educated in Paris.
My wife said that she disapproved of such personalities. Annette looked at her with surprise and then cast her eyes to the ground.