"I beg that you will be so, Countess."
"I am surprised to find a man like you here. I had not supposed there were such people in the village. But you were away a long time, you are probably no longer a representative citizen of Ammergau?"
Ludwig Gross raised his head proudly. "Certainly I am, Countess. If there was ever a true citizen of Ammergau, I am one. Learn to know us better, and you will soon be convinced that we are all of one mind. Though one has perhaps learned more than another, that is a mere accident; the same purpose, the same idea, unites us all."
"But what binds men of such talent to this remote village? Are you married?"
The bitter expression around the artist's mouth deepened as though cut by some invisible instrument. "No, Countess, my circumstances do not permit it; I have renounced this happiness."
The lady perceived that she had touched a sensitive spot, but she desired to probe the wound to learn whether it might be healed. "Is your salary so small that you could not support a family?"
"If I wish to aid my own family, and that is certainly my first duty, I cannot found a home."
"How is that possible. Does so rich a community pay its teacher so poorly?"
"It does as well as it can, Countess. It has fixed a salary of twelve hundred marks for my position; that is all that can be expected."
"For this place, yes. But if you were in Munich, you would easily obtain twice or three times as much."