"Now you make a steer-catcher of me. Such a thing never happened in Spain; for there the steers are not so cultivated and docile as they are with us."
She took out her knitting.
"This is Sunday, Miss Angela!"
"Do you consider knitting unlawful after one has fulfilled one's religious duties?"
"The case is not clear to me," said Frank, smiling secretly at the earnestness of the questioner. "My casuistic knowledge is not sufficient to solve such a question reasonably."
"The church only forbids servile work," said she. "I consider knitting and sewing as something better than doing nothing."
"I am rejoiced that you are not narrow-minded, Fräulein. But this little stocking does not fit your feet?"
"It is for little bare feet in Salingen," she replied, laying the finished stocking on the table and stroking it with both hands as a work of love.
"I have heard of your beneficence," said Frank. "You knit, sew, and cook for the poor people. You are a refuge for all the needy and distressed. How good in you!"
"You exaggerate, Herr Frank. I do a little sometimes, but not more than I can do with the housework, which is scarcely worth mentioning. I make no sacrifice in doing it; on the contrary, the poor give me more than I give them; for giving is to every one more pleasant than receiving."