The Staatsräthin looked troubled. "It is dry and cold,--scarcely courteous,--certainly not cordial, as she might have been to her former benefactor."
"Remember, my dear friend, that nearly ten years have passed since that time,--a very long period for so young a girl," said Heim.
"Ah, Uncle Heim," cried Angelika, "you dandle my boy on your knee now, just as you did my doll then. These years have passed like a dream for me."
"Your nature is very different from Ernestine's, my child," replied Heim.
"Yes, thank God!" ejaculated Moritz.
The Staatsräthin folded up the letter. "I cannot help pronouncing this letter heartless,--there is no other word for it. And mingled cowardice and defiance in regard to her uncle breathe from every line of it."
"Proving how her strong nature has been cowed by that scoundrel," cried Johannes with warmth.
His mother looked at him anxiously. "How could she, if she is such a strong, noble woman, submit to be cowed by such a man?"
"Why not, dearest mother?" replied Johannes. "However noble and strong she may be, she is only a woman, after all."
At this moment a carriage thundered past the house. They all looked out of the windows.