He gazed at her a moment in silence. He had not contemplated a necessity for persuasion.
"This," he then said with severity, "is prevarication."
She sat down on the grass and clasped her hands round her knees and looked up at him. She had taken off her hat when first she got to the top to fan herself, and had not put it on again. As she sat there with her back to the glow of the sky, the wind softly lifted the rings of her hair and the sun shone through them wonderfully. They seemed to flicker gently to and fro, little tongues of fire.
"Why," said Herr Dremmel, suddenly leaning forward and staring, "you are like a spirit."
This pleased her. For a moment her eyes danced.
"Like a spirit," he repeated. "And here am I talking heavily to you, as though you were an ordinary woman. Little One, how does one trap a spirit into marrying? Tell me. For very earnestly do I desire to be shown the way."
"One doesn't," said Ingeborg.
"Ah, do not be difficult. You have been so easy, of such a comfortable response in all things up to now."
"But this—" began Ingeborg.
"Yes. This, I well know—"