could, I didn't dare to hope for a good, satisfactory outcome, nor did I dare to fear a bad one. So I hiked to Klemzig; Bertha was the first person from the Fiedler family that I saw. Her, as it seemed to me, more than usual friendliness gave me an idea of the good effect of my last letter and gave me no small amount of courage. After I had taken care of my business, I asked my dear Bertha for a dozen cigars and when she gave them to me, I took the opportunity to ask her whether she had received my letter. She answered yes and when I asked what she said about it, she answered with a blush: "If it were me, you should have already received certainty from your first letter."

Of course, I immediately asked what else was important, and then she told me ( 111 ) about [Daniel] Schlinke, who tried to ingratiate himself with her in a deceitful way and through pitiful foreign accomplices. The fact that a person does not feel love is evident from the fact that he allowed himself to be wooed by others, because true love would have given him, even under the most unfavorable circumstances, the strength, courage and opportunity to open his heart himself, but of course, where there is no feeling heart, nothing can be opened. In addition, true love, by its nature, likes to remain secret and likes to hide itself, except from the person it loves.

Bertha said that neither she nor her father had made a specific promise by saying that it depended on her father, and that if it was God's will, he would have no objection. I said that she was not bound and that her conscience was free, she agreed with this and to prove that her heart was definitely with me, she said that it would probably be best to write to Schlinke straight away that he had no hope, which I of course encouraged her to do.

Bertha immediately showed my letters to her father, and the latter told me that he had read my first letter before I left Klemzig.

In my conversation, which apparently ( 112 ) no one in the house bothered me, but unfortunately a drunken Englishman only disturbed me too much, she said many things that revealed her definite inclination towards me, some of which I forgot, but kept the following. Even in Germany, her mother would have said that the daughters were marrying off to the missionaries, her sister Mathilde had also been teasing me for a long time and what spoke most clearly was Bertha showed me Paul Gerhardt's(135) song: "Jesus, most beloved brother"(136), and asked me to read by name from the 7th verse onwards. No less than the above-mentioned statements was Bertha's request: to come to Klemzig as often as possible until I went to Encounter Bay.

I asked Bertha whether she had suspected anything about my earlier behavior; She replied that even though she had noticed some things, she still didn't believe that I would apply for her, a lesser person. Bertha agreed with my suggestion to talk to Mr. Fiedler about our matter; she even found it pleasant. I wanted her presence, but