midday
This soon drew the vapour up again from the valley , and white steam-clouds sailed slowly across the landscape . Gretchen had been very kind and compassionate about Anna 's disaster ; she made the girl go to bed for an hour or two , and gave her some hot broth , and Anna would have forgotten her trouble but for the certainty she felt that old Andreas would make as bad a story of it as he could to her Aunt Christina . But this morning the girl was looking forward to her father 's home-coming , and she was in good spirits ; she had tried to make herself extra neat , and to imitate as closely as she could her Aunt Christina 's way of tidying the rooms ; but one improvement suggested itself to Anna which would certainly not have occurred to her tidy aunt ; if she had thought of it , she would have scouted the idea as useless , and a frivolous waste of time . Directly after the midday meal Anna went out to gather a wild-flower nosegay , to place in the sitting-room in honour of her father 's return . It seemed to her the only means she had of showing him how glad she was to see him again . While she was busy gathering Andreas crossed the meadow ; he did not see Anna stooping over the flowers , and she kept herself hidden ; but the sight of him brought back a haunting fear . What was it ?