ys I had not
conversed with the cheerfulness that had before pleased her so well,
because it gave her the opportunity of introducing her usual complaints
and old tales; I was no longer of use to her in this, and, still worse,
was always withdrawing from them. So she asked me what was the reason?
I was so surprised, that I confessed I had a proposal to be professor
at Altorf; it required a quick decision, and I must take it into
serious consideration. This information, that I might soon leave,
appeared to excite both mother and daughter, and I now began to be
sharper in my observations than I had been formerly. Hitherto I had
thought nothing about the daughter, who took care of everything in the
house, and seldom remained after we had finished our meals, and only
treated her according to the laws of civility; and I did not consider
it a part of this civility, either to kiss her hand, or to indulge in
small talk. The mother, with all her gay vivacity, had kept her
daughter very strictly, as she was not quite pleased with the free mode
of life which already began to prevail among her sex at Coburg. She
maintained the old principles, in which she had herself been brought up
in Saalfeld; she had few visitors at her house, as indeed she had not
much time for it, so orderly was the manner in which the household was
managed. It is true it was called avarice and parsimony, but for a city
such housekeeping is very necessary; and those who so willingly spend
their money, that they must borrow, should at least not judge ill of
the indispensable benefactors from whom they borrow. I knew the daily
tranquil enjoyment that pervaded this home, and I found therein
assuredly far more happiness than in many others where there were
splendour and bustle.

"Now I called to mind that some persons in Coburg had already warned me
against this acquaintance, which I nevertheless found so uniformly
blameless. I watched more narrowly, and it appeared to me as if I was
regarded favourably; only when I came to draw my conclusions, whether I
should endeavour to help myself by means of this quiet and virtuous
daughter, my heart fell within me. What reason had I to entertain any
hopes, as I had for nearly a whole year been guilty of marked
inattention? She had already refused a professor, and I knew other
proofs of her acting with independent and not over hasty deliberation,
where many others, from an inclination to vanity, would have decided
hastily. I