"Off so soon? Will you not say good-day to Miss Angela? She is in the garden. Shall I call her?"
"No," said he after a moment's reflection; "I will go into the garden myself."
After unlatching the gate, he would have turned back, for he became nervous and embarrassed.
Angela sat in the arbor; her embroidery-frame leaned against the table, and she was busily working. As she heard the creaking of footsteps on the walk, she looked up and blushed. Frank raised his hat, and when the young woman stood up before him in beauty and loveliness, his nervousness increased, and he would gladly have escaped; but his spirit was in the fetters of a strange power, and necessity supplied him with a few appropriate remarks.
"I heard that the family were absent; but I did not wish to go away without saluting you, Miss Angela."
She observed the bashful manner of the young man, and said kindly, "I am glad to see you again, Herr Frank," and invited him to sit down. He looked about for a seat; but as there was none, he had to sit on the same bench with her.
"Do you remain long at Frankenhöhe?"
"Only to-day and to-morrow. Work requires dispatch, and old custom has so bound me to my occupation that the knowledge of work to be done makes me feel uneasy."
"Do you work every day regularly in the counting-room?"