after vespers; so perhaps she would not be permitted to see him again,
for she scarcely dared to hope that, after the rebuff which he had
experienced, he would seek her again. Yet she longed once more to clasp
the hand of the man for whom she felt a sister's affection and yet had so
deeply wounded.

Without one kind farewell word from him, the bitterest drop of all would
fall into the wormwood which already mingled in her happiness. It seemed
incomprehensible that he who from childhood had given her his whole heart
would henceforth deny her every friendly feeling. For her own sake, and
also for his, this should not be.

How many had sought her love! But perhaps the time would soon come when,
on account of the one who must supply the place of all others, no one
would care for her. Then she wished at least to be sure of the sympathy,
the friendship of this good loyal man.

There were still many things for her to do, but to seek Wolf she left
them all, even the visit to Frau Lerch, whom she wished to ask to devote
herself exclusively to her service in Prebrunn.

Full of anxious cares, lofty anticipations, and the ardent desire to
conciliate Wolf, she took the by no means lengthy walk to the Hiltners.
Not until she reached the doctor's house did it occur to her that she had
forgotten to execute her father's commission and relieve Ursel's anxiety
about her darling.

How did it happen that, if any affair of her own interested her, she
always forgot what she owed to others?