"You have been expecting that a long time."
"Yes, and the realization of my hope has been deferred because envy and malice assail me on every side. We younger officials are kept down as long as possible by our superiors. Hitherto I have had no opportunity to distinguish myself, but now I have been selected as the man best fitted to discharge the duties of a very important mission. His Excellency, the governor of the province, has himself given me the requisite instructions, and ordered me to report to him personally the result of my investigations. If my efforts prove successful, I am sure of the counsellorship."
As he said this, he gave the young lady a look so significant that she could not possibly be in doubt as to what person he had chosen to be the wife of the future counsellor; but she maintained an obstinate silence.
"Then a change of residence would follow as a matter of course," continued the assessor. "I should probably be called to the capital. You are not acquainted in the capital, Fräulein Margaret?" he asked, as he went on depicting life at the Residence, its advantages and amusements, discoursing largely upon his influential connections there, and making all these things add vastly to his own personal importance. Margaret listened with mingled curiosity and incredulity. The brilliant pictures unrolled before her had something very enticing to a young girl reared in the solitude of the country. She rested her blonde head in her hand, and gazed thoughtfully at the table-cover. Her sole objection to such a life evidently lay in the fact that the present assessor and future minister must share it. He however marked his advantage, and was resolved to profit by it. He felt that the decisive moment had come.
"But amid all the gayety and splendor of the capital I shall feel sad and desolate," he said, pathetically; "my heart will remain with you, Fräulein Margaret--"
Margaret was startled. She saw that the assessor, who had made a long, momentous pause after her name, had now risen with the unmistakable intention of falling on his knees before her. But the solemnity and ceremoniousness with which he was arranging the preliminaries of his declaration proved fatal to its success; they gave the young girl time to deliberate, and she too sprang to her feet.
"Please excuse me, Herr Assessor; I think--I believe that the hall-door just closed. It has a spring lock, and papa will not be able to get in when he returns. I will run down and open it;" and so saying, she ran out of the room.
The assessor stood there with his dramatic pose and half-bended knees, looking very much bewildered. For the second time to-day his chosen one had fled from him, and her prudery began to be very annoying. It never once occurred to him that Gretchen's opposition was serious. It was obstinacy, coquetry, and perhaps--so the suitor thought with a smile--fear of those fascinations and advantages which rendered him irresistible. The girl certainly had no idea of refusing him, and in her charming timidity she had run away from an immediate decision. This thought greatly comforted the young gentleman, and although he regretted the fact that no decision had been reached, he had not the slightest doubt of ultimate triumph. He had made such matters a study, and knew all about the coyness and playful obstinacy of young girls.
The pretext of which Gretchen had availed herself was not pure invention. She had actually heard the front door close with a loud bang. Although she knew that her father had only to ring, and a servant would let him in, she ran down to the door and opened it violently at the very moment when a hand from without was laid upon the knob. The visitor staggered, and would have fallen if his companion had not caught him.
"Good heavens, what has happened?" cried the young lady.