"How can I do that?" asked Fritz; "we are traveling for good into the great world."
"Get upon the box by the coachman," begged Laura, imploringly.
She looked so serious and depressed that Fritz obediently stopped the carriage, descended from it, and climbed upon the coach-box. Laura drew a deep breath, and became more tranquil. Her words had influenced him. Intractable as he was, he would do much to please her. She sat alone, and her thoughts became more cheering. The Doctor turned round frequently, knocked at the window, and asked how she was. He was very tender-hearted, and full of loving attentions.
"The whole responsibility for his health rests on me," she thought, "what hitherto his dear mother has done for him now becomes my duty. A delightful duty, dear Fritz. I will keep him from working at nights, for his health is delicate, and every day I will go walking with him, in the coldest weather, to accustom him to it."
She looked out of the carriage, the wind was stirring the leaves; she knocked at the window:
"Fritz, it is windy, you have no shawl on."
"I shall no longer use one," called out the Doctor, "this effeminacy must be shaken off."
"I beg of you, Fritz, not to be so childish. Put one round you, or you will certainly catch cold."
"With a you, I will certainly not put it on."
"Take it, my darling Fritz, I beg of thee," entreated Laura.