Geert, if
I am not mistaken, signifies a tall and slender trunk, and so Effi may
be the ivy destined to twine about it." At these words the betrothed
couple looked at each other somewhat embarrassed, Effi's face showing
at the same time an expression of childlike mirth, but Mrs. von Briest
said: "Say what you like, Briest, and formulate your toasts to suit
your own taste, but if you will allow me one request, avoid poetic
imagery; it is beyond your sphere." These silencing words were
received by von Briest with more assent than dissent. "It is possible
that you are right, Luise."
Immediately after rising from the table, Effi took leave to pay a
visit over at the pastor's. On the way she said to herself: "I think
Hulda will be vexed. I have got ahead of her after all. She always was
too vain and conceited."
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.
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