With these hopes he soothed his conscience when it reproached him for yielding to the spell that Celia's confidential familiarity cast around him. He knew that no unholy thought stained his devoted love for the dear girl, and knowing this, he believed himself justified in enjoying the bliss of the present.
"But you were angry with me, Celia," he said, as, after her kiss, he walked slowly along beside Pluto. "You were angry with me for keeping you waiting. Confess it; your first words hardly sounded kind."
"Well, yes; I will not deny," Celia replied, "that I was a little vexed and hurt. I had been thinking of you all day long, and you were not here; I did not know what to think. You never kept me waiting before; indeed, you spoil me, Kurt, as does every one,--you, and my father, and Arno, and my dear Anna. You all spoil me, and ought not to be surprised when I am impatient."
"I am only surprised that you forgave me so quickly."
"Oh, I was so glad to have you here, although I ought to have scolded you for walking so fast in this terrible heat. You look warm still."
"I could not help it. I was afraid you would think I was not coming and would ride home again. In my heart I cursed that tiresome Assessor for detaining me, and when at last I escaped from him, I walked straight across the Hohenwald fields to meet you here."
"You need not have done that, you dear, kind Kurt. I should have waited an hour here for you at least." Again she held out her hand to him, and surely it was but natural that he should kiss it passionately.
"Have you another visitor at Grünhagen?" Celia continued, without being put at all out of countenance by the tender kiss imprinted upon her hand. "You said something of a tiresome Assessor who had detained you."
"Yes, an Assessor von Hahn, who has lately been transferred to the courts at A----, saw fit to pay my uncle a visit this morning. With his usual hospitality my uncle invited him to stay, and to my horror he accepted the invitation. He is a commonplace, tiresome man, and incredibly inquisitive. He has only one good quality, which is that he is a distant relative of yours."
"Yes, the Hahns are remotely connected with my mother's family, but I never heard anything of them, and did not even know of the existence of an Assessor von Hahn."