The assessor listened eagerly to these disclosures. Unfortunately the superintendent was called out at this moment, and left the two young people alone.
Gretchen's displeasure was as boundless as the assessor's delight at this unexpected tête-à-tête. He twirled his moustache with an air of satisfaction, stroked his glossy hair, and resolved to make the best use of so favorable an opportunity.
"Your father informs me that he intends to resign his position," he began. "The idea of seeing him and his daughter no more at Villica would be a heavy blow, indeed a thunderbolt to me, were it not for the fact that I do not purpose remaining much longer in L---- myself."
"Are you, too, going away?" asked Gretchen, in surprise.
The assessor smiled--and it was a smile of great significance. "You are aware, Fräulein Margaret, that with us government officials, promotion usually involves a change of residence, and I hope soon to be promoted."
"Ah, indeed!"
"There is no doubt of it. I am already government assessor, and in a State like ours, that means everything. It is the first round of the great ladder that leads directly to the minister's chair."
"You have some distance to travel before you reach that elevation," remarked Gretchen, incredulously.
The small gentleman leaned back with as much dignity as if the simple cane-bottomed chair upon which he sat were really the longed-for chair of the prime minister.
"True, such a position cannot be reached at one stride; but the future is full of grand possibilities. Fräulein Margaret, a public man ought always to have great things in view, and to aim for the highest. Ambition is the official's noblest incentive. I am in daily expectation of being appointed government counsellor."