Miss Hildegard looked rebellious for an instant, but accepted the verdict of superior wisdom with submissive silence. The old man gave me a little confidential wink as if to say:
"There is a model girl for you. She knows that women should not speak in meeting."
"What a delightfully fresh and unspoiled girl," I reflected, as I wended my way homeward through the still moonlight; "so true-hearted, and genuine, and unaffected. And still beneath all that sweet, womanly tranquillity there are strong slumbering forces, which some day will startle some phlegmatic countryman of hers, who takes her to be as submissive as she looks."
VI.
Some fifteen minutes after the appointed hour I called with a carriage for Fräulein Hildegard, whom, to my wonder, I found standing in all the glory of her ball-toilet (for she was evidently afraid to sit down) in the middle of the sombre drawing-room. I had been prepared to wait for a good half-hour, and accordingly felt a little provoked at myself for my seeming negligence.
"I do not mind telling you," she said, as I sat compressed in a corner of the carriage, striving to reduce myself to the smallest practicable dimensions, "that this is my first ball. I don't know any of the gentlemen who will be there to-night, but I know two or three Milwaukee ladies who have promised to come, so, even if I don't dance much, I shall not feel lonely."
"Of course you will give me the first chance at your card," I answered. "How many dances will you grant me?"
"As many as you want. Uncle was very explicit in impressing upon me that I am to obey you unquestioningly and have no will of my own."
"That was very unkind of him. I shall be unwilling to claim any privilege which you do not of your own free will bestow upon me."