The pretext used by the young girl was not altogether a vain one. The hall door, pushed by some careless hand, had really closed with a bang. It is true that, at his return, the steward would only have had to call from outside to one of the maids to have it opened; but his daughter did not seem to think of this. She rushed through the adjoining room out into the hall.
An exclamation of pain and one of alarm resounded in the same instant. As Gretchen violently thrust open the door, a stranger, who at that very moment had grasped the handle from outside, struck by the sudden rebound, staggered back several paces and would have fallen, if some one who was with him had not caught and supported him.
"Good gracious, what is it?" cried the girl.
"I beg your pardon a thousand times," said a timid voice in a tone of great courtesy.
Gretchen looked up in surprise at the man who excused himself so politely for having nearly been knocked down, while yet in the act of raising himself to an upright posture. Before she had time for an answer, the other stranger drew near and addressed himself to her.
"We wish to see Herr Frank. He is at home, we hear."
"Papa is not here just at this moment, but he will be back directly," replied Gretchen, to whom this late and unexpected visit came as a great relief, offering her the means of escape from her difficulty. Without it, she must either have committed the rudeness of leaving the Assessor alone during her father's absence, or have been compelled to stay with him to keep him company. Instead, therefore, of showing the new-comers into the agent's study, as was customary, she led them straightway into the sitting-room.
"Two gentlemen who wish to speak to papa," said she, by way of explanation, to the astonished Assessor, who looked up and rose as the strangers entered and bowed to him, while the girl, kindly offering to let her father know, went out again for that purpose.
She had just sent off one of the maids, and was about to return to the room, when, to her amazement, the Assessor appeared in the dimly lighted hall, and inquired hastily whether Herr Frank had been sent for. Gretchen answered in the affirmative.
The Assessor came up to her, and said in a whisper--