"You have no farmyard near the house to make it more cheerful," said Frau von Treumann. "My father's house had the garden at the back, and the farmyard in the front, and one did not feel so cut off from everything. There was always something going on in the yard--always life and noises." "Really?" said Anna; and again the pump and the sparrows became audible. "The stillness is truly remarkable," observed the baroness again. "_Ja, eben_," said Fräulein Kuhräuber. "But it is beautiful, isn't it," said Anna, gazing out at the light on the water. "It is so restful, so soothing. Look what a lovely sunset there must be this evening. We can't see it from this side of the house, but look at the colour of the grass and the water." "_Ach_--you are a friend of nature," said Frau von Treumann, turning her head for a brief moment towards the window, and then examining Anna's face. "I am also. There is nothing I like more than nature. Do you paint?" "I wish I could." "Ah, then you sing--or play?" "I can do neither." "_So?_ But what have you here, then, in the way of distractions, of pastimes?" "I don't think I have any," said Anna, smiling. "I have been very busy till now making things ready for you, and after this I shall just enjoy being alive." Frau von Treumann looked puzzled for a moment. Then she said "_Ach so._" There was another silence. "Have some more coffee," said Anna, laying hold of the pot persuasively. She was feeling foolish, and had blushed stupidly after that _Ach so_. "No, no," said Frau von Treumann, putting up a protesting hand, "you are very kind. Two cups are a limit beyond which voracity itself could not go. What do you say? You have had three? Oh, well, you are young, and young people can play tricks with their digestions with less danger than old ones." At this speech Fräulein Kuhräuber's four cups became plainly written on her guilty face. The thought that she had been voracious at the very first meal was appalling to her. She hastily pushed away her half-empty cup--too hastily, for it upset, and in her effort to save it it fell on to the floor and was broken. "_Ach, Herr Je!_" she cried in her distress. The other two looked at each other; the expression is an unusual one on the lips of gentle-women. "Oh, it does not matter--really it does not," Anna hastened to assure her. "Don't pick it up--Letty will. The table is too small really. There is no room on it for anything." "_Ja, eben_," said Fräulein Kuhräuber, greatly discomfited. "You would like to go upstairs, I am sure," said Anna hurriedly, turning to the others. "You must be very tired," she added, looking at Frau von Treumann. "I am," replied that lady, closing her eyes for a moment with a little smile expressive of patient endurance.