dies. They worked early and late to make
their husbands comfortable; they were well practised in every art
required of women living in the country; they were models of thrift and
diligence; yet, with all their virtues and all their accomplishments,
they never dreamed of lounging or not listening when a man was speaking,
but sat attentively on the edge of their chairs, straight in the back
and seemly, and when he had finished said _Jawohl_.

Anna certainly did sit very much at her ease, and instead of attending,
as she ought to have done, to his description of Amtsvorstehers, was
thinking of other things. Dellwig had thick lips that could not be
hidden entirely by his grizzled moustache and beard, and he had the sort
of eyes known to the inelegant but truthful as fishy, and a big
obstinate nose, and a narrow obstinate forehead, and a long body and
short legs; and though all this, Anna told herself, was not in the least
his fault and should not in any way prejudice her against him, she felt
that she was justified in wishing that his manners were less offensive,
less boastful and boisterous, and that he did not bite his nails. "I
wonder," she thought, her eyes carefully fixed on the paper-knife, but
conscious of his every look and movement, "I wonder if he is as artful
as he looks. Surely Uncle Joachim must have known what he was like, and
would never have told me to keep him if he had not been honest. Perhaps
he is perfectly honest, and when I meet him in heaven how ashamed I
shall be of myself for having had doubts!" And then she fell to musing
on what sort of an appearance a chastened and angelic Dellwig would
probably present, and looked up suddenly at him with new interest.

"I trust I have made myself comprehensible?" he was asking, having just
come to the end of what he felt was a masterly _resume_ of Herr von
Lohm's duties.

"I beg your pardon?" said Anna, bringing her thoughts back with
difficulty from the consideration of nimbuses, "Oh, about
Amtsvorstehers--no," she said, shaking her head, "you have not. But that
is my fault. I can't understand everything at once. I shall do better
later on."

"_Natuerlich, natuerlich_," Dellwig vehemently assured her, while he made
inward comments on the innate incapacity of all _Weiber_, as he called
them, to grasp the simplest fact connected with law and justice.

"Tell me about the livestock," said Anna, remembering Uncle Joachim's
frequent and affectionate allusions to