At Easter, after a long-awaited time, Reinhard returns to see Elisabeth. However, they seem to have grown apart. In Reinhard's absence, his old schoolfriend Erich has inherited his father's farm at Immensee. Erich gave a new bird to Elisabeth. Reinhard entrusts his personal diary to Elisabeth, who is unsettled by the many poems he dedicated to her. When he asks her to hand him the book back, she returns it to him along with his favourite flower. Shortly before his departure Reinhard makes Elisabeth promise that she will still love him after his two-year absence. He leaves having told her that he has a secret, which he vows to tell her upon his return. Two more years pass by with no more correspondence between the two of them, then Reinhard gets a letter from his mother about Elisabeth and Erich's engagement. Elisabeth had twice rejected Erich's proposal.