"Of what value is corporal beauty that fades when it is disfigured by bad customs and caprices? I admit that I have never yet met any woman so graceful and charming as Angela; but this very circumstance warns me to be careful that my judgment may not be dazzled. If it turns out that Angela sets herself up as a religious coquette or a Pharisee, her fine figure is only a deceitful mask of falsehood, and my opinion would again be verified. I must make observations with great care." Frank reviewed these resolutions as he passed slowly over the lawn, where some servants were employed, who greeted him respectfully as he passed. In the hall he heard a man's voice that came from the same room he had entered on his first visit. The door was open, and the voice spoke briskly and warmly. Frank stopped for a moment and heard the voice say, "Miss Angela is as lovely as ever." These words vibrated disagreeably in Richard's soul, and urged him to know the man from whom they came. Herr Siegwart went to meet the visitor and offered him his hand. The other gentleman remained sitting, and looked at Frank with stately indifference. "Herr Frank, my esteemed neighbor of Frankenhöhe," said Siegwart, introducing Frank. The gentleman rose and made a stiff bow. "The Assessor von Hamm," continued the proprietor. Frank made an equally stiff and somewhat colder bow. The three sat down. While Siegwart rang the bell, Richard cast a searching glance at the assessor who had said, "Angela is as lovely as ever." The assessor had a pale, studious color, regular features in which there was an expression of official importance. Frank, who was a fine observer, thought he had never seen such a perfect and sharply defined specimen of the bureaucratic type. Every wrinkle in the assessor's forehead told of arrogance and absolutism. The red ribbon in the button-hole of Herr von Hamm excited Frank's astonishment. He thought it remarkable that a young man of four or five and twenty could have merited the ribbon of an order. He might infer from this that decorations and merit do not necessarily go together. "How glad I am that you have kept your word!" said Siegwart to Frank complacently. "How is your father?" "Very well; he goes this morning to the city, where business calls him." "I have often admired your father's attentions to Dr. Klingenberg," said Siegwart after a short pause. "He has for years had Frankenhöhe prepared for the accommodation of the doctor. You are Klingenberg's constant companion, and I do not doubt but such is the wish of your father. And your father tears himself from his business and comes frequently from the city to see that the doctor's least wish is realized. I have observed this these last eight years, and I have often thought that the doctor is to be envied, on account of this noble friendship." "You know, I suppose, that the doctor saved my father when his life was despaired of?"