When he neared the parsonage, he saw in the garden a girl's figure bending to prop up the falling stem of a rose-bush. Her back was towards him, and her head was covered with her large, flat garden-hat. The noise of his horse's hoofs startled her, and she turned quickly: it was Rahel. Her face, which had regained its former child-like vivacity, beamed with delight as she recognized him. "At last!" she cried, and she rose and hastened towards him, dropping with a clatter on the gravel her garden-scissors and spool. "How glad I am to see you! but you are a naughty man to have made us wait so long. Oh, how happy they will all be to know you have come! Will you dismount here? Wait, and I will call Hans." And with a shrill little cry she summoned the servant to lead the horse to the stable; then, shaking Goethe warmly by the hand, she went with him into the house, exclaiming, as she entered, "Papa! Alide! Mamma! Goethe has arrived!"
He followed her as one in a dream: yes, this was his family; here was his home; from to-day henceforward all this little circle was his own. In the library they found the pastor, who welcomed him with the same enthusiastic cordiality that Rahel had shown; and shortly after appeared Frau Duroc. Her manner, less demonstrative than theirs, was unchanged in its matronly dignity and kindness.
"And Alide?" asked Goethe, as soon as he had greeted them all and explained briefly the delay of his own visit.
"She has not been quite herself of late," answered the mother; "though she does not complain. She will be with us directly."
As she spoke, Alide entered the room. Seeing her thus after a separation, Goethe was for the first time conscious of the change that had taken place in her appearance since he had known her. She had developed into a beautiful, serious woman; her expression, no longer that of joyous unconsciousness, was almost melancholy in its thoughtful gravity. She must have been ill during the last three weeks, for her face had grown noticeably thinner, and had lost entirely its glowing bloom of color, while her large, brilliant eyes were hollow and sunken in their orbits and encircled by ominous lines. At this moment, however, a tranquil cheerfulness animated her countenance as she advanced towards Goethe with her usual serene smile. She gave him her hand to kiss, and welcomed him kindly, but with a certain reserve in her manner. She questioned him about himself, his health, his vocations, his approaching examination, everything that interested him, but shrank from all allusion to herself. She denied emphatically that she had been suffering or ill since her return home, and even in doing so a natural little laugh and a momentary flush of color tended to confirm her words.
In a short time the thread of Goethe's intercourse with the family seemed resumed where it had last been dropped. The pastor, who entertained an extravagant admiration and affection for him, found no end of subjects on which to converse, and even to consult, with his young friend. Rahel was once more lively and talkative, and Alide, though unusually taciturn, seemed as cheerful as ever in Goethe's presence. It was not till after dinner that he found himself alone with her.
"Alide, I must say a word to you before I return to Strasburg," he began, hurriedly. "Had we not better go to your arbor?"
An almost imperceptible shudder ran through her frame. "As you please, Goethe," she answered; "though I scarcely think we should be interrupted here."
She had not yet called him Wolfgang in her old child-like, affectionate tone. She went to fetch her hat, and in a few moments they were out of the house together, walking through the fields.
"Before we part again, Alide," said Goethe, in a dry, husky voice, "we must put an end to this unsettled life, which places us both in a false position and creates an unrest for the spirit that precludes all useful activity. We are both very young to marry, I know, and perhaps your parents will not find it fitting that you should leave them so early; but I have reflected, and I think it best that we should be together as soon as possible."