"You have no farmyard near the house to make it more cheerful," said Frau von Treumann. "My father's house had the garden at the back, and the farmyard in the front, and one did not feel so cut off from everything. There was always something going on in the yard—always life and noises."
"Really?" said Anna; and again the pump and the sparrows became audible.
"The stillness is truly remarkable," observed the baroness again.
"Ja, eben," said Fräulein Kuhräuber.
"But it is beautiful, isn't it," said Anna, gazing out at the light on the water. "It is so restful, so soothing. Look what a lovely sunset there must be this evening. We can't see it from this side of the house, but look at the colour of the grass and the water."
"Ach—you are a friend of nature," said Frau von Treumann, turning her head for a brief moment towards the window, and then examining Anna's face. "I am also. There is nothing I like more than nature. Do you paint?"
"I wish I could."
"Ah, then you sing—or play?"
"I can do neither."
"So? But what have you here, then, in the way of distractions, of pastimes?"