elped her to
recover from the constraint and embarrassment into which she had been
thrown by the extraordinary manner of their entrance. Dorina raised the
"dark fringed curtains of her eyes" and regarded the stranger with a
sweet smile, and said that her father would soon come home from his
work, and would be very pleased to see some German painters, for he
esteemed them very highly. Traugott was obliged to confess that,
exclusive of Felicia, no girl had ever excited such a warm interest in
him as Dorina did. She was in fact almost a second Felicia; the only
differences were that Dorina's features seemed to him less delicate and
more sharply cut, and her hair was darker. It was the same picture,
only painted by Raphael instead of by Rubens.

It was not long before the old gentleman came in; and Traugott now
plainly saw that he had been greatly misled by the height of the
scaffolding in the church, on which the old man had stood. Instead of
his being the strong Berklinger, he was a thin, mean-looking little old
man, timid and crushed by poverty. A deceptive accidental light in the
church had given his clean-shaved chin an appearance similar to
Berklinger's black curly beard. In conversing about art matters the old
man unfolded considerable ripe practical knowledge; and Traugott made
up his mind to cultivate his acquaintance; for though his introduction
to the family had been so painful, their society now began to exercise
a more and more agreeable influence upon him.

Dorina, the incarnation of grace and child-like ingenuousness, plainly
allowed her preference for the young German painter to be seen. And
Traugott warmly returned her affection. He grew so accustomed to the
society of the pretty child (she was but fifteen), that he often spent
the whole day with the little family; his studio he transferred to the
spacious apartment which stood empty next their rooms; and finally he
established himself in the family itself. Hence he was able of his
prosperity to do much in a delicate way to relieve their straitened
circumstances; and the old man could not very well think otherwise than
that Traugott would marry Dorina; and he even said so to him without
reservation. This put Traugott in no little consternation: for he now
distinctly recollected the object of his journey, and perceived where
it seemed likely to end. Felicia again stood before his eyes instinct
with life; but, on the other hand, he felt that he could not lea