“Oh! I hope that will not be the case!” She looked very much disturbed. £5 a year was about a fifth of good old Anna’s total income.
“Well, we shall see. I will do my best for you, Frau Bauer.”
“Thank you, thank you! I am very grateful to you, Mr. Hegner.”
Indeed old Anna’s feelings towards the man who sat there, playing with a pen in his hand, had undergone an extraordinary transformation. She had come into the room disliking him, fearing him, feeling sure that he was going to take some advantage of her. Now she stared at his moody, rather flushed face, full of wondering gratitude.
How strange that he had never taken the trouble to tell her that he knew Willi! She was sorry to remember how often she had dissuaded her mistress from getting something at the Stores that could be got elsewhere, some little thing on which the tiny commission she received would have been practically nil, or, worse still, overlooked. Her commission had been often overlooked of late unless she kept a very sharp look-out on the bills, which Mrs. Otway had a tiresome habit of locking away when receipted.
She took the five precious gold pieces off the table, and moved, as if to rise from her chair.
But Mr. Hegner waved his hand. “Sit down, sit down, Frau Bauer,” he said. “There is no hurry. I enjoy the thought of a little chat with you.” He waited a moment. “And are you thinking of staying on in your present position? You are—let me see—with Mrs. Otway?”
“Oh yes,” she said, brightening. “I shall certainly stay where I am. I am very happy there. They are very kind to me, Mr. Hegner. I love my young lady as much as I do my own child.”
“It is a quiet house,”rdquo; he went on, “a quiet house, with very little coming and going, Frau Bauer. Is not that so?”
“There is a good deal of visiting,” she said quickly. “It is a hospitable house.”