midday
When they sat alone together there ensued pauses in the conversation which distressed him , and which he anxiously did his best to avoid . In order to have a definite occupation during the holidays , he began to give Elisabeth some instruction in botany , in which he himself had been keenly interested during the early months of his university career . Elisabeth , who was wont to follow him in all things and was moreover very quick to learn , willingly entered into the proposal . So now several times in the week they made excursions into the fields or the moors , and if by midday they brought home their green field-box full of plants and flowers , Reinhard would come again later in the day and share with Elisabeth what they had collected in common . With this same object in view , he entered the room one afternoon while Elisabeth was standing by the window and sticking some fresh chick-weed in a gilded birdcage which he had not seen in the place before . In the cage was a canary , which was flapping its wings and shrilly chirruping as it pecked at Elisabeth 's fingers . Previously to this Reinhard 's bird had hung in that spot .