Assja moved her shoulders slightly, one after the other, as children do when they are in good humor.
"Oh, I am famous at guessing," she went on. "Long ago my father had only to cough, and I knew instantly whether he was pleased with me or not."
Till this time Assja had never spoken to me of her father. That struck me.
"You loved your father very much?" I asked, and I felt to my great annoyance that I was blushing.
She did not answer, but she also blushed. We were both silent. In the distance a steamboat with its trailing smoke was descending the Rhine: our looks followed it.
"Why do you not tell me something?" Assja said half aloud.
"Why did you laugh to-day when you saw me coming?" I asked her.
"I do not know myself. Sometimes I want to cry, and yet must laugh. You must not judge me by what I do. Ah, by the way, what a wonderful story it is about the Lorelei. Isn't it her rock that we see yonder? They say that at first she drew every one else beneath the water, but after she was acquainted with love, she cast herself in. The story pleases me. Frau Luise tells me all sorts of fairy stories. Frau Luise has a black cat with yellow eyes——"
Assja raised her head and threw back her hair.
"Ah, how comfortable I feel!" she said.