and
turned as if to go, having first whispered a few words to the girl, to
which she laughingly replied with a resounding slap of her flat hand
upon his back. The grocer accompanied him to the door. Meanwhile all my
courage had again deserted me, and I stood facing the girl, who was
indifferently picking her peas and beans as though the whole affair
didn't concern her in the least. 'Sir,' he said, 'what business have you
with my daughter?' I tried to explain the circumstance and the cause of
my visit. 'Song! I'll sing you a song!' he exclaimed, moving his right
arm up and down in rather threatening fashion. 'There it is,' said the
girl, tilting her chair sideways and pointing with her hand to the
counter without setting down the bowl. I rushed over and saw a sheet of
music lying there. It was the song. But the old man got there first, and
crumpled the beautiful paper in his hand. 'What does this mean?' he
said. 'Who is this fellow?' 'He is one of the gentlemen from the
chancery,' she replied, throwing a worm-eaten pea a little farther away
than the rest. 'A gentleman from the chancery,' he cried, 'in the dark,
without a hat?' I accounted for the absence of a hat by explaining that
I lived close by; at the same time I designated the house. 'I know the
house,' he cried. 'Nobody lives there but the Court Councilor'--here he
mentioned the name of my father--'and I know all the servants.' 'I am
the son of the Councilor,' I said in a low voice, as though I were
telling a lie. I have seen many changes during my life, but none so
sudden as that which came over the man at these words. His mouth, which
he had opened to heap abuse upon me, remained open, his eyes still
looked threatening, but about the lower part of his face a smile began
to play which spread more and more. The girl remained indifferent and
continued in her stooping posture. Without interrupting her work, she
pushed her loose hair back behind her ears. 'The son of the Court
Councilor!' finally exclaimed the old man, from whose face the clouds
had entirely disappeared. 'Won't you make yourself comfortable, sir?
Barbara, bring a chair!' The girl stirred reluctantly on hers. 'Never
mind, you sneak!' he said, taking a basket from a stool and wiping the
dust from the latter with his handkerchief. 'This is a great honor,' he
continued. 'Has His Honor, the Councilor--I mean His Honor's son, also
taken up music? Perhaps you sing like my daughter, or rather quite
differentl