"Your praise makes me very proud," said the young man.
"And me!" whispered Heinrich, almost inaudibly.
"May I ask you to come in to tea?" cried Veronica, from the doorway. "If any one of the gentlemen has anything to read aloud, he must be kind enough to defer it until after supper. It is already somewhat late."
Heinrich was in the act of offering Cornelia his arm when Veronica requested him to take her to the table. He patiently submitted to this duty, and the ill-assorted pair moved on into the tea-room followed by the others.
Cornelia and Hedwig stood together a moment alone. Hedwig threw herself on her friend's breast, and exclaimed, in a low, rapid tone,--
"I will give you the picture, Cornelia. I don't want it."
"You don't want it?" asked the latter, in astonishment.
"What should I do with it? I think you would value it more, and take more pleasure in it than I," replied Hedwig.
"But, Hedwig, you were always so enthusiastic about him."
"Even if I were, it was all in joke. But you know and value him in earnest: I saw that to-day; and if he had given the picture, he would have bestowed it on no one but you; so how could I take a thing to which I have no right? Keep it, I beg of you. It is of no value to me."