What an uproar there was!--"Goodness gracious me!" cried Mrs. Nüssler. "Godfrey!--our child!"--"Yes," said the rector, who now that he had been stopped in his harangue stood before them with much the same dazed expression as Klein the engineer at Stavenhagen had worn, when on trying some engines to see whether they would answer, a pipe burst unexpectedly and his glory was suddenly eclipsed.--Kurz started up, exclaiming: "The rascal! Godfrey evidently thinks no small beer of himself!"--And Joseph also rose, but more slowly, and asked: "Was it Mina you said, Bräsig?"--"No, young Joseph, only Lina," answered Bräsig quietly.--"So you knew all about it, Bräsig, and yet you never told me," said Mrs. Nüssler reproachfully.--"Oh, I know more than that," he replied, "but why should I have told you? It could make no difference whether you knew it a quarter of an hour sooner or later, and besides that, I thought it would have been a pleasant surprise for you."--"Here he is," said the rector, bringing Godfrey in from the front hall where he had been awaiting the result of the interview, "and he relies on your kindness for a favourable decision."
Godfrey's manner was so totally different from what it had been a short time before that he looked like another man. He had got rid of his pomposity and look of self-sufficiency, for he was too thoroughly in earnest at that moment to put on any little airs, and was contented to show himself as he really was, namely, a man full of doubt and hope, of fear and love; in short, a human being and not a machine. And assuredly true love is in itself so beautiful, being one of the deepest and tenderest feelings of humanity, that he could not have made it more beautiful by retaining his grave clerical manner. Godfrey had not felt this to be the case at first, but now his love had gained such power over him that he told Mrs. Nüssler and Joseph his tale so simply and naturally, that Bräsig said to himself: "What a change there is in that young fellow! If Lina has improved him so much in this short time, there are great hopes for the future. He may become a very pleasant, agreeable man in course of time."
Mrs. Nüssler listened silently to what Godfrey had to say for himself. Although she really liked her nephew, she did not feel at all sure that she could give him her daughter, and was very much puzzled and distressed. "Good gracious, Godfrey," she at last exclaimed, "I know that you are a good lad, and that you've been working hard for your examination, but ....." Here she was interrupted by her husband for the first time in her life. As soon as Joseph understood that it was not Mina he became calm, and sat down again; he collected his thoughts while Godfrey was speaking, and when he saw all eyes fixed on him he determined to speak, and so interrupting his wife, he said: "Ah, Godfrey, it all depends upon circumstances. I will do my duty as father of the family. If my wife gives her consent, so do I, and if Lina gives her consent, I will do so too."--"Bless me, Joseph!" cried Mrs. Nüssler. "What on earth are you saying? _Do_ be quiet. I must speak to my daughter first. I must hear what she says before anything is settled."--And she hastened from the room.