But Effi was not quite right in all that she expected.  Hulda behaved very well, preserving her composure absolutely and leaving the indication of anger and vexation to her mother, the pastor’s wife, who, indeed, made some very strange remarks.  “Yes, yes, that’s the way it goes.  Of course.  Since it couldn’t be the mother, it has to be the daughter.  That’s nothing new.  Old families always hold together, and where there is a beginning there will be an increase.”  The elder Niemeyer, painfully embarrassed by these and similar pointed remarks, which showed a lack of culture and refinement, lamented once more the fact that he had married a mere housekeeper.

[Illustration:  Permission F. Bruckmann A.-G.  Munich A SUNDAY IN THE GARDEN OF THE TUILERIES ADOLPH VON MENZEL.]

After visiting the pastor’s family Effi naturally went next to the home of the precentor Jahnke.  The twins had been watching for her and received her in the front yard.

“Well, Effi,” said Hertha, as all three walked up and down between the two rows of amaranths, “well, Effi, how do you really feel?”

“How do I feel?  O, quite well.  We already say ‘Du’ to each other and call each other by our first names.  His name is Geert, but it just occurs to me that I have already told you that.”

“Yes, you have.  But in spite of myself I feel so uneasy about it.  Is he really the right man?”

“Certainly he is the right man.  You don’t know anything about such matters, Hertha.  Any man is the right one.  Of course he must be a nobleman, have a position, and be handsome.”

“Goodness, Effi, how you do talk!  You used to talk quite differently.”

“Yes, I used to.”

“And are you quite happy already?”

“When one has been two hours betrothed, one is always quite happy.  At least, that is my idea about it.”

“And don’t you feel at all—­oh, what shall I say?—­a bit awkward?”

“Yes, I do feel a bit awkward, but not very.  And I fancy I shall get over it.”

After these visits at the parsonage and the home of the precentor, which together had not consumed half an hour, Effi returned to the garden veranda, where coffee was about to be served.  Father-in-law and son-in-law were walking up and down along the gravel path by the plane trees.  Von Briest was talking about the difficulties of a district councillor’s position, saying that he had been offered one at various times, but had always declined.  “The ability to have my own way in all matters has always been the thing that was most to my liking, at least more—­I beg your pardon, Innstetten—­than always having to look up to some one else.  For in the latter case one is always obliged to bear in mind and pay heed to exalted and most exalted superiors.  That is no life for me.  Here I live along in such liberty and rejoice at every green leaf and the wild grape-vine that grows over those windows yonder.”