h! could I undo what's done,
O'er the moor scorched by the sun
Beggarwise I'd gladly go.

During the reading of this Reinhard had felt an imperceptible
quivering of the paper; and when he came to an end Elisabeth gently
pushed her chair back and passed silently out into the garden. Her
mother followed her with a look. Eric made as if to go after, but the
mother said:

"Elisabeth has one or two little things to do outside," so he remained
where he was.

But out of doors the evening brooded darker and darker over garden and
lake. Moths whirred past the open doors through which the fragrance of
flower and bush floated in increasingly; up from the water came the
croak of the frogs, under the windows a nightingale commenced his song
answered by another from within the depths of the garden; the moon
appeared over the tree-tops.

Reinhard looked for a little while longer at the spot where
Elisabeth's sweet form had been lost to sight in the thick-foliaged
garden paths, and then he rolled up his manuscript, bade his friends
good-night and passed through the house down to the water.

The woods stood silent and cast their dark shadow far out over the
lake, while the centre was bathed in the haze of a pale moonlight. Now
and then a gentle rustle trembled through the trees, though wind there
was none; it was but the breath of summer night.