Of course I have learned already to tell a 'gentleman'
from a 'snob.'"
Wilhelm smiled at the self-conscious importance with which she
spoke. His eyes wandered over her beautiful hair, to the tender
curve of her slender neck and beautiful shoulders, while she,
feeling perfectly secure again, settled herself comfortably. Her
seat was a projecting piece of stone, which had been converted by a
soft covering of moss into a delightful resting-place. An
overhanging bush shaded it pleasantly. In front lay a corner of the
castle; across a smooth piece of turf and through a wide gap in the
wall they caught a view of the mountains, as if painted by some
artist's brush--a perfect composition which would have put the
crowning touch to his fame. The girl had been trying to make a
sketch of the view in a well-worn sketchbook which lay near.
"You have given a sufficient excuse for your sketches by your
feeling for natural beauty," remarked Wilhelm. "May I look at the
page?"
"Oh," she said, somewhat confused, "my will is of the best, but I
can do so little," and she hesitatingly gave him her album. He took
it and also the pencil, looked alternately at the mountains and on
the page of the book, and without asking leave began to improve upon
it, strengthening a line here, lightening a shadow and giving
greater breadth, and then growing deeply interested in his work, he
sat down without ceremony on the mossy bank, took a piece of india-
rubber, and erasing here, adding lines there, sometimes laying in a
shadow, giving strength to the foreground and lightness to the
background, he ended by making a really pretty and artistic sketch.
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