"Do you sing?"
"Very seldom here; but when a girl in Delft we sung every day."
"Of course you were the soprano?"
"Yes, Fraulein."
"Let the Fraulein drop, and call me Henrica."
"With all my heart, if you will call me Maria, or Frau Maria."
"I'll try. Don't you think we could practise many a song together?"
Just as these words were uttered, Sister Gonzaga entered the room, saying that the wife of Receiver General Cornelius had called to ask if she could do anything for the sick lady.
"What does that mean?" asked Henrica angrily. "I don't know the woman."
"She is the mother of Herr Wilhelm, the musician," said the young wife.