text:  Gottlob sprang forward horrified at being thus involved even as an involuntary agent in the hideous denunciation and indignant at the supposition that he could work ill to the Amtmann's lovely daughter; and he protested with all the vehemence which gentle natures when roused into excitement will display against so unfounded and calumnious an accusation; whilst Bertha joining together her small hands as if in supplication turned her face with anxious expression to her father crying--"No no--it cannot be!" Astounded at so unexpected a revelation the Ober-Amtmann seemed at first not to know what to think