“Only my father; but what of that?”
“He will rejoice over your recovery; Doctor Bontius says you will soon be perfectly well.”
“I think so too,” replied Henrica confidently, and then said softly, without heeding Maria’s presence: “There is one beautiful thing. When I am well again, I shall once more—Do you practise music?”
“Yes, dear Fraulein.”
“Not merely as a pastime, but because you feel you cannot live without it?”
“You must keep quiet, Fraulein. Music;—yes, I think my life would be far poorer without it than it is.”
“Do you sing?”
“Very seldom here; but when a girl in Delft we sung every day.”
“Of course you were the soprano?”
“Yes, Fraulein.”