so serious. He said
he was only waiting for the death of his uncle, who was greatly against
the marriage. 'That's all very well, sir,' I replied, 'but you cannot
expect the girl to wait till your uncle dies; she herself would be
getting old by then. It is not a fair thing to expect any girl to do.'
Then he said he would swear fidelity to you in the mean time. 'Alas,
sir!' I said, 'it is hard to believe in that; one cannot trust the men
nowadays. You would only make the girl unhappy, and the marriage would
remain an eternal secret.' Thereupon he said that if I did not believe
his word of honour and his oath, he was ready to deposit with me sixty
thousand florins, ready money, and if ever he should be such a scoundrel
as to fall short of his word and desert you, he would forfeit the money.
Now, sixty thousand florins is a great sum of money. Nobody would be
such a fool as to lightly chuck it away. A man would think twice about
breaking his word when all that was at stake, especially when he had
given his word to such a wondrously lovely girl as my Fanny."

"Good night; I want to go to sleep," stammered Fanny, sinking back again
between her pillows; and for a long time afterwards she tossed about in
her bed, whilst hatred, horror, and disgust struggled together in her
soul. Only the late dawn brought rest at last to her weary eyelids.

The sun was already shining through the window-panes when Fanny awoke.
Mrs. Meyer must have got up and gone out much earlier, for there was no
sign of her. Her good humour returned, therefore, and she arose and
dressed hastily, scarcely allowing herself time to arrange her hair in
the simplest manner possible.

Breakfast was already awaiting her. Mrs. Meyer meanwhile was in the
kitchen outside making the coffee and the toast. She would not hear of
the servants helping her; such a sweet pretty daughter deserved that her
mother should take a little trouble on her account.

Fanny and her mother were alone over their coffee. Fanny had wished her
mother good morning and kissed her hand, whereupon Mrs. Meyer gave her
back tit for tat by kissing her hand also.

"Oh, what a pretty hand, what an elegant hand! Oh, my darling, my only
girl! Ah, how blessed I am in living so near to you! Permit me to give
you your coffee. I know exactly how you like it, don't I?--a little
sugar and lots of milk, that's it, isn't it? I have forgotten nothing,
you see."

The woman was quite loquacious. Whenever Ter