"Are you going away?" asked the girl, in surprise.
The Assessor smiled self-consciously. "You know, Fräulein Margaret, that to us officials promotion generally means a change of place, and I hope soon to advance in my career."
"Really?"
"Undoubtedly. I am already Government Assessor, and in a state like ours that is saying sufficient. It is in some sort the first rung of the great official ladder which leads straight up to the Minister's seat."
"Well, you have got a long way to go," said Gretchen, rather distrustfully.
The little gentleman leaned back with an air of dignity, as though the cane chair on which he was seated were already the before-named stool of office.
"Such an eminence is not, it is true, attained in a day; but for the future ... one should always keep great things in view, Fräulein, always propose to one's self the highest aims. Ambition is the placeman's spur. As for myself, I daily expect to be raised to the rank of Counsellor."[[2]]
"But you have been expecting that a long time," said the young girl.
"Because envy and malevolence are constantly blocking the path," cried the Assessor, with a burst of wounded feeling. "We younger officials are kept down by our superiors as long as we possibly can be. Hitherto I have had no opportunity of distinguishing myself, but at last they have seen the necessity of confiding to me a mission of importance. His Excellency the President himself gave the necessary instructions, and charged me to make a personal report to him of the result of my researches. If things go well, I am sure of the Counsellorship."
He looked so significantly at the young lady, as he uttered these last words, that she could entertain no doubt as to who would be the future Counsellor's bride-elect. Notwithstanding this, she preserved an obstinate silence.