"And now, not to offend you even with a look," said he, "I promise on my honour not to raise my eyes higher than your hand." He kept his word, dropping his eyes as he released her hand and took his leave with a low bow. As the two young men returned home together after midnight, Jenő noticed that his elder brother no longer teased him. CHAPTER VI. THE _BACKFISCH_. One evening, after the habitual frequenters of the Plankenhorst house had taken their departure, as Alfonsine was undressing with the help of her maid, she turned to the latter and asked: "What is the _backfisch_ doing nowadays, Betty?" _Backfisch_, be it observed, means literally _a fish for frying_, but, as commonly used in German, it denotes a girl who is no longer a child, but not yet a young lady; one who is still innocent and harmless, and who feels strange emotions stirring in her breast, but fails to understand them; who takes jest for earnest and earnest for jest, and who believes the first pretty speech poured into her ear to be so much refined gold. That is the _backfisch_. "The _backfisch_ is learning to swim," replied Mademoiselle Bettine. "Still holding on to the guard-ropes? Not yet able to strike out alone?" "She will be able before long," was Betty's reply, as she took down her mistress's hair and coiled it up anew for the night. "A day or two ago, as I was doing her hair, she asked me: 'Whose hair is the longer, mine or Alfonsine's?'" "Ha, ha! The _backfisch_!" "And I told her that her hair was the more beautiful." At this both laughed. "She knows already, without any one's telling her, that she is a pretty girl," said Alfonsine. "Does she ever talk about any of the gentlemen that visit us?" "Oh, yes, we gossip about all the men that come to the house, and she tells me her opinion of each; but there is one she never names at all, and if I happen to mention him she blushes up to her eyes." "And do you think he is after her?" asked Alfonsine. "He is very cautious," answered the maid, "and whenever he meets her alone he can hardly find two words to say to her. But I know what that means." "Poor little _backfisch_!" murmured the other. "We'll give her a pleasant surprise, Betty. To-morrow she shall have a new gown. The dressmaker spoiled one of mine, and it will do nicely for her." Mademoiselle Bettine laughed. "The pink tarlatan?" she inquired. "That is a ball-dress." "Never mind. She shall have it and be happy. You make her believe that we have been rather slighting her hitherto because she was only a child, but that now she is to be regarded as a young lady. We will have her taught dancing, playing, and singing." "Really?" "Oh, well, let her think so, and that she is to be introduced to society and treated like one of the family." "If I tell her that now, I sha'n't get a wink of sleep all night long; she will chatter about it till morning. She is fairly crazy to take singing lessons." "Poor little _backfisch_! We'll gratify her for once."