Seed-time and Harvest Part 81

She was going out, when a voice spoke to her from the clouds, that is, the oak-leaf-clouds, and a face full of light, candlelight, bent down to her and said solemnly, "It shall all be attended to, Frau Nussler,"

and as she looked nearer into the clouds, she saw the honest, red face of her old angel, Brasig, looking out from the oak-leaves and tallow-candles, which he had strung around his neck, like a clergyman's bands, that he might have his hands free to fasten them in their places.

When this was done, the three stood together, and contemplated the effect, and Brasig said, "Truly, Jochen! 'Tis like a fairy palace, out of the 'Arabian Nights,' which I read last winter from the circulating library!"

And Jochen said, "Yes, Brasig; it is all as true as leather; but it is only for one night; for, day after to-morrow, we must tear it down."

"That would be barbarous!" said the carpenter, "the six notched beams would last ages, and the fairies might walk in as if they were born and bred there."

And the next day came the fairies, not, indeed, exactly as Herr Schultz had represented, no, they came, at that time, all in crinoline, that is to say, the half-grown, horse-hair variety, not with bells and springs and bee-hives, and steel bird-cages, as at present; but they were beginning, even then, and Auntie Klein, from Rostock, had put a regular barrel-hoop of tough oaken wood, into her petticoat, which grazed her sister's s.h.i.+ns so unmercifully on the way, that the poor woman had to stand on one foot through the whole wedding. But the fairies came, and they had wreaths in their hair, of natural flowers, and not artificial, which was a pity, for towards the close of the wedding, when the feet were weary, and the lovely eyes drooped, and the bright clouds of hair were tumbled about as if a storm-wind had blown through them, then the weary flowers drooped their heads and whispered to each other, "I wish it were over; nothing gives one such a longing for the quiet night, as all this gaiety." How much better we do things at present! The artificial flowers stand up brisk and lively, and say, "Always ready!

Our stems and strings hold out, and when this is over, they will lay us away in a box; and we shall get rested, and when another time comes we are always ready!" Ah, how the world has improved! If they could only keep fresh and bright the youthful limbs and the fresh lungs and the innocent hearts,--well, for all me, the whole pretty fairies themselves,--with their wires and threads and steel springs!

Brasig distributed invitations for Frau Nussler and Jochen with a free hand, and had selected from Rahnstadt and the vicinity a fine company of neat, willing and active dancers, and although there was now and then a crooked stick among the men, it was no matter, said Uncle Brasig, for you could see a man's legs distinctly enough, and could beware of them. Besides the Rahnstadters and a few others in the region, Jochen Nussler had, through Rudolph, invited all his relations, a very wide-spreading race. Not that they themselves were so wide-spreading, I only mean the relations.h.i.+p, and they were scattered widely over all Mecklenburg and Pommerania.

There sat uncle Luting, there Uncle Krischaning, there Uncle Hanning, and there Cousin Wilhelming,--"who is my own second cousin, and a very witty fellow, when it comes to eating and drinking," said Jochen,--and there sat Aunt Dining, and Aunt Stining, and Aunt Mining, and Aunt Lining, and Aunt Rining,--"and Aunt Zaphie is coming too," said Jochen, "who was an extremely fine woman in her day." "She has been here this great while," said Brasig. And as one stately equipage after another drove up to the Rexow court, and the whole Nussler family in a company stood around Jochen, welcoming each other, and inquiring how things had gone for the last sixteen or twenty years,--for it was as long as that since they had seen each other, and those who knew how to write never did,--Brasig said to Frau Nussler:

"A very constant race, these Nusslers! Regular thorough-bred Nusslers!

Only Jochen is a little different from the rest, since he has grown so thin, and so talkative." And going into the "temple of art," as carpenter Schultz called his edifice, and finding the architect sitting there, absorbed in admiration of his work and a bottle of Bavarian beer, he said, "Schultz, you have done your part, and I have done mine; but, you shall see, Jochen will spoil the whole performance, with his stupid relations, so that it will turn out like a mess of sour porridge."

"I have nothing to say about it, being only a guest here," said Herr Schultz, "but if they are what you say, then, out with them!"

And Brasig walked up and down the garden, like a tree-frog, not that he had on a green coat, for he wore his nice brown one, with the yellow vest, no, he was like a tree-frog only because he prophesied foul weather before night. All at once, he looked over the garden fence, and saw Jochen's own "phantom" approaching, not driven by Krischan, but by a day-laborer, and looking nearer he saw two women sitting in it, and when he looked nearer still, there sat his own sister the widow of the dairy-farmer Korthals, with her only daughter, who lived far away, in straitened circ.u.mstances, in a village in Pomerania.

"G.o.d preserve us!" he cried, "my own sister! And her little Lotting, too! This is _her_ doing!" and running through the kitchen to the hall, he met Frau Nussler, and cried, "You have done this for me! Oh, you are----"

Just then two ladies entered the hall, very simply dressed, but both of them lovely as pictures; the older, with tears of emotion and grat.i.tude running down her friendly, true-hearted face, the younger, with her fresh, innocent soul s.h.i.+ning out of great blue eyes, under a cloud of golden hair, and asking, "Where is my dear, good Uncle Zachary?" for it was long years since she had seen him.

"Here! here!" he cried, and pulled and pushed his dear relations through the hall, till he got them up to Frau Nussler, and said, "There she is; now thank her!" And when the two had expressed their grat.i.tude, and turned round again to look for him, he was gone. Like a miller, who has started his mill, and poured the corn into the hopper, he had crowded his way through the stout meal-bags of the Nussler family, and now sat in the arbor, in the garden, blowing and trumpeting at his nose, until Schultz the carpenter decamped with his beer-bottle from the temple of art, believing that the musicians had arrived.

But they did not come yet; first came Kurz and the rector, each with his good old advocate at his side, and when they had been presented, and had crowded about, for a while, in the room with the Nussler family, old Uncle Luting Nussler came up to Kurz, in a pompous, overbearing way, and said, in a deep voice, "You can congratulate yourself upon being connected afresh with such a rich and n.o.ble relations.h.i.+p. Do you see," and he pointed to Uncle Krischan, who had just thrown himself upon the sofa, "there tumbles a hundred thousand thalers."

"I don't do it for that," said Uncle Krischan.

Well, that made Kurz angry, but he restrained himself; but when Uncle Luting went on to ask, "Have you ever in your life seen so many rich people together in one company?" then Kurz's wrath broke out, and he replied, "No! nor ever in my life so many blockheads!"

He turned away, and his wife, who had heard it, followed him and said, "Kurz, I beg you, for G.o.d's sake, don't begin again with your democracy! It would be much better for you to go to bed at once."

He would not do that, but he was placed under the ban, for the whole evening, by all the Nussler family.

And Pastor Gottlieb came with Lining, and they were treated with great respect by their elders, because they were to perform the marriage ceremony. Don't misunderstand me! Not that Lining herself was to marry them, not at all! but, for once in her life, she had interfered in Gottlieb's professional affairs, and had altered his marriage ceremony a little, so that Gottlieb said it was not like a Christian minister's speech, it was more like a family speech; but she remained firm in her position that as Mining's twin she ought to know what would go most to her heart, and Gottlieb had to yield to her.

And now came Habermann, with the Frau Pastorin and Louise and the little a.s.sessor, driving up in a gla.s.s coach, for the Frau Pastorin had said, "So, and in no other way!" She had once been compelled to decline a wedding invitation from Frau Nussler, in her great sorrow, and now she would make up for it in her great pleasure at this second wedding, and then she pressed the hands of Habermann and Louise and the little a.s.sessor, saying, "Isn't it so? We are all happy to-day." So they came to Rexow, and when they arrived Habermann saw Brasig's sister, whom he had known years ago, and it was not long before they sat together, talking of old times, and every other word was "Zachary," and Louise and the little a.s.sessor had Lotting between them, and every other word was "Uncle Brasig."

Then came a great harvest wagon, with flowers and wreaths, Krischan the coachman driving the four horses, in the saddle, in his new yellow buckskins, his whip ornamented with red and blue ribbons, and he himself with a wreath of roses around his hat, which looked uncommonly as if the old hat were celebrating its fiftieth golden wedding, upon this occasion, and on the front seat, sat David Berger, the town-musician, playing on his clarionet:

"Wer niemals sinen Rausch gehabt, Das ist kein braver Mann,"

and behind him sat his companions, blowing the same tune, though not in the same time, for since they sat on the second, third and fourth seats they could not possibly keep it, since he was always three ahead of them; and when he turned round angrily, or Krischan would go faster and used his whip, he always got his hair pulled, for one of his mischievous companions had fastened the handle of the whip to his back hair, and when Krischan touched the whip, or when he stirred himself, he was in constant torment.

And behind this wagon came another harvest wagon, full of white dresses, and from under the white dresses peeped pretty little dancing feet, and above them, on the round heads, nodded roses and pinks, which looked out modestly from the curly locks, as if they were too bashful to glance at the pretty faces. These were the little fairies. And right in the midst of the fairies sat the Herr Postmaster, in his new uniform, the only one Rahnstadt had to show,--otherwise he would not have arrived at such an honor,--and sung, gay as a finch, his finest song in this garden of roses. Behind this wagon came yet another harvest wagon, loaded with gentlemen, with dancers, the best dancers in Rahnstadt, and Kurz's Herr Sussmann danced along the wagon pole in front, and the Herr Rector's youngest pupil sat, with his legs dangling in the air, behind.

The guests all looked very joyous, but the Frau Hostess was in the greatest perplexity, for she was not acquainted with a single one of them, since Brasig had selected them merely with reference to their capacities for dancing, and she called for Brasig; but when he finally came Krischan the coachman had brought them all in, and undertook to dispose of them. He opened the doors of the kitchen and dining-room, and shoved them all in: "In with you, there! Take it easy! Get a little something to eat and drink; they are not ready yet!"

And the advice was good, for the marriage was delayed a little, because one of the groomsmen had not yet arrived, namely Fritz Triddelsitz, who at Rudolph's request had been persuaded to remove the ban from the Nussler house, and to officiate in that capacity. At last he came, riding up the court on his dapple-gray and in full state, and mingled among the guests with so much dignity, and bowed right and left with so much elegance, that the rector's foolish little pupil whispered in Herr Sussmann's ear: "What a pity that we are all ready, he might have helped us." Whereupon Herr Sussmann regarded him with a look of compa.s.sion, and turning to Brasig, who stood at his other side, said, "Herr Inspector, have you heard that I am chosen dance-director for our fraternity ball, day after tomorrow?"

Brasig was going to tell him that he would be a blockhead if he undertook it, for Kurz would discharge him, but he did not have time to say it, for just then the bridal pair entered the room.

Rudolph was truly a fine looking bridegroom. His fresh, joyous demeanor was hidden, to-day, under a quiet earnestness, and only the firm resolve under all circ.u.mstances to fight for his wife and himself, like an honest fellow, shone in his brown eyes. Yes, he was a handsome bridegroom, for when does a man look handsomer than when, full of courage and hope, he goes out to his first conflict? Who could blame his mother, the good old advocate, for going up to him at this moment, and kissing him, and stroking his brown curls, and secretly pulling out his ruffle a little, from the dress coat, so that people might see it?

And now Mining! Mining looked, in her white satin dress and myrtle wreath, like a Bauersdorf apple, freshly plucked from the tree, and laid in its green leaves on a silver salver. Fresh and cool outside, as the ripe fruit, but her heart was glowing, and before Gottlieb had uttered a word of the ceremony, there was a pair betrothed,--confident hope and quiet blessedness had joined hands. And Frau Nussler was crying quietly behind her handkerchief, and saying to Brasig, "I cannot help it, she is my last, my youngest." And Brasig looked at her, full of friendliness, and said, "Frau Nussler, control yourself! It will soon be over;" and going up to Louise Habermann, he made a bow, saying, "My Fraulein, if you are ready, it is time,"--usually he called her "Louise," but to-day he was a groomsman, and must do what was proper.

And Fritz Triddelsitz went up to the little a.s.sessor, for she was the other bride's maid, and Kurz and Rector Baldrian placed themselves as leaders by Rudolph, and when young Jochen after some delay was shoved forward, he stood by his Mining, and on his other side stood Habermann, for they were the two leaders for the bride,--and then the procession moved to carpenter Schultz's temple of art, where Gottlieb stood behind a green and white altar, and began to read Lining's marriage ceremony.

I know very well that a marriage at home is not thought much of,--now-a-days all marriages must be celebrated in church, and I have nothing against it, for I was married in church myself about that time, since my wife was a minister's daughter, and would not have it otherwise; but, as I was saying, at that time this kind of marriage ceremony had not been established in Mecklenburg by the ecclesiastical consistory, and the old modes were still in fas.h.i.+on, and children were married as their parents had been. New modes were in fas.h.i.+on too, as Krischan Schultz said, when he fastened his horse by the tail; but Gottlieb knew nothing about them, and if he had known about them, and had wished to fasten his horse in the new mode. Lining would not have allowed it; Lining was a married woman, but she would not allow her other half to disgrace himself before these rich, stout, stupid Nusslers, and the Rahnstadt shopmen and school-boys, or that her twin sister should have her marriage feast spoiled by an ecclesiastical consistory, although she was the most dignified of pastors' wives, that is, after the Frau Pastorin, who was always the nearest.

After the ceremony, the two little twin-apples lay in each other's arms, in full, untroubled blessedness, and Rudolph embraced them both together, and Frau Nussler stood a little aside, looking over her handkerchief, with her head turned over our shoulder, as if she were listening to something,--possibly the angel's song,--and as the stout, rich, stupid Nusslers pressed around, with their congratulations, young Jochen stood among them and bowed to this one and that, as if it were his own wedding-day over again: "Uncle Luting, it is my Mining! Cousin Wilhelming, it is our little governess! Aunt Zaphie, what shall we do about it!" These people crowded up, the men with their bright waistcoats, and gold watch-chains across their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and the women with whole flower-pots on their caps, and some of them with dropping eyes, as if the flowerpots had been watered too plentifully, and were running over. And the men and the women of Jochen's family kissed, alternately, Rudolph and Mining, as if before all things they must be taken into this rich, stout, stupid relations.h.i.+p, so that Kurz at last grew terribly angry, because he could not reach his new daughter-in-law, and for once his good old advocate agreed with him, because she could not reach her own son. And the Rahnstadt dancers also crowded about and wandered around the pair, and what else could they do? they could not have their kisses yet; and among this company stood Fritz Triddelsitz with the little a.s.sessor, tall and slender and imposing, not as a groomsman, no, as commander of the whole, and behind him stood the rector's little pupil, imitating with his short body and black woolen stockings all the motions that Fritz made with his long body and black silk stockings. He was Fritz's natural shadow, that is, at noon-day, when shadows are short.

Near by stood two other couples, who were not crowding up, for they were sufficiently occupied with themselves, and had time to spare; these were Habermann and his Louise, and Uncle Brasig and the Frau Pastorin. Louise lay with her head on her father's breast, looking up to him, as if she had been long ill, and had been brought out from her couch, for the first time, into the free air, and the blue sky seemed to say: "Better days! better days!" and her face looked as peaceful and happy as the blue sky, and sun and moon and stars might wander there, and dew and rain might fall, to refresh and rejoice and enlighten mankind. Close to this pair stood Zachary Brasig, with his arm round the little Frau Pastorin, and his eyebrows elevated, and he blew his nose, and said, "My little Mining! My little G.o.ddaughter! How happy she is!" and every time that one of the old, stout Nusslers gave Mining a kiss, he bent down to the Frau Pastorin, and gave her a kiss, as if he must make up to this good old lady what the stupid old people were inflicting upon Mining. "You see, because!" as our servant maid, Lisette, says, here in Eisenach, when she can think of no other reason.

And so Brasig kissed the Frau Pastorin, and the Frau Pastorin suffered it, without thinking any harm; but when Aunt Zaphie, who had formerly been very handsome, and a sort of Venus among the Nusslers, gave Rudolph three or four kisses, the little Frau Pastorin was startled, and when Brasig approached his lips again, in such a friendly way, she said, "Brasig, you ought to be ashamed of yourself! What have you particularly to do with me?"

And Brasig drew back embarra.s.sed, and said, "Frau Pastorin, don't take it unkindly, but my feelings ran away with me," and he brought the Frau Pastorin to Habermann, saying, "Karl, you must exchange. Louise is my bride's maid, and I am a bachelor, and you and the Frau Pastorin are both widowers, and that is suitable."

Mining had taken her Rudolph by the hand, and, when she saw her dearest and oldest friends standing a little on one side, had made various efforts to penetrate the sand-bags of stout, rich, stupid Nusslers, and the wooden palisades of shopmen and school-boys, but without success; but when her brand new husband saw her futile man[oe]uvres, he came to her a.s.sistance, shoved aside sand-bag No. 1, the rich Uncle Luting, and sand-bag No. 2, the witty cousin Wilhelming, grasped the longest palisade, Fritz Triddelsitz himself, in the short ribs, and moved him gently to another place, and neatly sent his pupil-shadow after him, and having thus made a breach through obstinacy, stupidity and tedium,--certainly no easy thing to do,--he brought his brand new bride to the people, who instead of congratulating her with flower-pots, and gay waistcoats and gold watch-chains, did it with what lies beneath them, their heads and their hearts. And when Frau Nussler came up, and pressed her children, alternately, to her heart, Rudolph wiped the tears from his eyes, and said, "Let us all come out into the garden, and be by ourselves a little while."

And the carpenter, Schultz, who stood near and heard him, said; "Yes, out with you! All of you, out! We must set the tables here!" and he began to shove the rich Nusslers about as if they were blocks and lumber. And when our company,--I say _our_--had come to the famous arbor, Brasig pointed to the cherry-tree, and said, "Mining, this tree must be an indicium and a token to you, all your life, since your future was decided under it, and under me that time; and since we are talking about tokens, Mining, bring me a blue larkspur again, there is one!"

And when Mining had gone for it Uncle Brasig said, "Rudolph, have you always remembered the blue larkspur?" And when Rudolph said he had, Brasig looked in his clear eyes, and then examined him from head to foot, and said, "I believe you!" and when Mining came back with the flower he said, "Thank you, Mining! And now I will give you my wedding present for it," and he pulled out an old thick, black pocket-book from his brown coat, and rummaged among his old milk and corn accounts, and took out a withered flower, saying, "See, my little G.o.dchild, this is the flower of that time,"--and he held it towards her with the fresh blossom,--"and if, after long years, Rudolph can look at you with the same clear eyes, and give you this new flower, then you may say, 'I have been a happy wife.' I have nothing more to say, nothing! and I have nothing else to give you, nothing at all!" and with that he walked away, and our company heard him saying to himself, "Nothing at all! but this indicium, Rudolph's indicium!" And when they found him again, he was walking with his sister and his niece Lotting, and the two women were caressing and thanking him, because he had never forgotten or forsaken them.

Then Frau Nussler came up to our company: "Come children, all is ready.

But don't take it ill! Jochen's family are the most distinguished, and I cannot offend Jochen to-day,--he is master for this once,--they must sit nearest the bridal pair. Kurz and his wife, of course, will sit among them, for, as you say, Frau Pastorin, they are the nearest, and Gottlieb and Lining must also sit there, he as clergyman, and she as twin, and Jochen, too, because they are his friends. But we, Frau Pastorin, Karl, Louise, and you, Brasig! we will sit together at one end, and it shall be a merry wedding."

"A la bong kor!" said Brasig, "but where is the shopman, Sussmann? I must speak to him about the fraternity ball."

"Oh, bless you! the poor fellow is sitting in the back kitchen; he and Triddelsitz were performing some kind of antics over a heap of pea-straw, and he fell, and something split, and Krischan had to get him Jochen's old blue trousers, and he will not let himself be seen by daylight, but is waiting until evening, when they will not noticed."

"And he wants to be dance-director!" said Brasig, as he followed our company to the hall.

Then the feast began, and Frau Nussler's little waiting-maids, with their fresh faces and three-cornered caps, and white bib-ap.r.o.ns, ran about the temple of art, and turned and whirled like humming tops,--for the old waiters with their shabby black dress-coats, and white neck-ties _a la_ turkey-c.o.c.k, and white cotton gloves which are always dipping into the gravy, were not the fas.h.i.+on then,--and the stout Nusslers sat there and ate, as if there were a French commissary in their stomachs, provisioning an army for a Russian campaign, and when they had finished the frica.s.see they began on the pudding, and when they had disposed of the pudding they attacked the roasted pigeons and sparrows, and wondered that the pigeons in Mecklenburg were not as large as the geese, and murmured against providence because sparrows were not as thick as hops, and when the roast meat came, Cousin Wilhelming, the wit of the Nussler family, stood up and clinked his gla.s.s, and cried, "Quiet!" three times, and holding up his gla.s.s said, "To the health of the old General Knusemong (que nous aimons), who has been a very distinguished general, and is so to this day!" and with that he looked towards the young pair, blinking with his left eye at Mining, and with his right at Rudolph. And Uncle Luting--understand me, the rich Uncle Luting--stood up expressly for the purpose, and said, "Wilhelming, you are a devilish fellow!" And Brasig said to the Frau Pastorin, "Frau Pastorin, I know you are opposed to the Reform, but I a.s.sure you the witty shoemaker in the Reform would have done it much better!" And Frau Nussler sat on thorns and thistles, in distress lest Jochen should take it into his head to make a speech; but Jochen restrained himself, his speeches were not for the world at large, they were only for the neighborhood, and all he said was, "Wilhelming, fill Luting's gla.s.s! Luting, help Wilhelming!"

And when the punch-bowls were placed on the table, and the champagne came, the old Nusslers looked at the labels, and said they had just such in their cellars, and Fritz Triddelsitz and the Herr Shopmen and the Herr Pupils drank one gla.s.s after another, losing no time, until the left wing of the wedding-army became so uproarious that the little a.s.sessor remarked to the commander of these light troops, to Fritz Triddelsitz, that if they were to attack the enemy in that condition they would be obliged to retreat, and when Fritz was making arrangements to withdraw his forces, then there happened a diversion, for him and for the whole company. Well, just to think what clever things an ignorant beast will do sometimes! Bauschan, Jochen's Bauschan, our old Bauschan was sitting with a green wreath about his neck, and another about his tail,--for Krischan the coachman had dressed him up for the occasion,--on the green and white altar, which was behind the bridal pair, and where Gottlieb and Lining had married them, and he thrust his dignified autocratic face between their heads and licked Mining with his tongue, and struck Rudolph with his tail, and then licked Rudolph, and struck Mining. And when he had done this, the old fellow settled down again upon the altar with the greatest dignity, looking as if he were well contented with the whole affair, but meant to sit there a little longer, for his own pleasure. Jochen sprang up: "Bauschan, for shame! Down with you!" But Uncle Brasig sprang up also, saying; "Jochen, do you treat your best friend like that, on this solemn occasion?" and turning to Pastor Gottlieb, he added: "Herr Pastor, let Bauschan alone! When the beast shows his affection, here on this Christian altar, the beast knows something that we don't. And Bauschan is a clever dog! I know it; for when I heard about the love-affairs, up in the cherry-tree, he heard them from below, for he was lying in the arbor, under the bench. Herr Pastor, this Bauschan is certainly a marriage witness, for he was there when they were betrothed."

Gottlieb turned pale at the scandalous idea, but did not break out into a sermon this time, for there was suddenly a humming and buzzing, as of a swarm of bees; everybody had risen, and began to remove chairs and tables,--"Out! out!" cried carpenter Schultz,--and dishes and platters, and the rector's youngest pupil tumbled down with a great pile of Frau Nussler's china plates, and the fragments clattered through the hall, and he stood looking at his work, and feeling in his vest-pocket for treasures which were as much concealed from his own eyes as from those of other people, and as Frau Nussler pa.s.sed by and saw the performance he turned very red, and said he would gladly pay for them, but he hadn't so much by him. And Frau Nussler patted him kindly on the shoulder and said, "Oh, nonsense! But you must be punished!" and she took him by the hand and led him to Brasig's niece Lotting, and said, "You shall dance out my plates here, this evening." And he paid his debt honestly.

Then the dancing began. First the Polonaise. Fritz Triddelsitz had the lead for Herr Sussmann was not yet visible, and what a dance he led them! Through the hall, and through the garden, and through the kitchen, and the entry, and the living room and the sleeping rooms, and back into the garden again, and into the hall went the procession, until Jochen's stout relations were quite out of breath, and Brasig called out to him, why didn't he take the barn-yard by the way? And Jochen Nussler danced, third couple, with Aunt Zaphie in her flower-pot on one side, and Bauschan in his wreath on the other, and he looked between them like a pearl in a golden setting, or an a.s.s between two bundles of hay. And when the Polonaise was over, David Berger played the slowest of waltzes, "Thou, thou reign'st in this bosom, There, there, hast thou thy throne," and another band answered out of the distance: "Our cat has nine kits," and as he played on: "Speak, speak, Love, I implore thee! Say, say, hope shall be mine!"--came the answer from the distance: "Son and daughter, Into the water!"--and so on, for Frau Nussler had given orders that there should be dancing in the milk-cellar also, and there sat old Hartloff, with his one eye, and Wichmann the joiner, and Ruhrdanz the weaver, and all the rest; and Hartloff had helped them all to a good drink, and told them not to be discouraged, they could cope with such a city band as that, any day, and so they did their best, and Krischan the coachman kept them supplied with liquor. And when the fun was at its height, Rudolph and Mining came into the milk-cellar, and Mining danced with Krischan, and Rudolph with the cook, and the bailiff got up a hurrah for the married pair, and Hartloff fiddled so madly that Ruhrdanz tried in vain to keep up with him on the clarionet, and finally gave up in despair. And when the bridal pair had gone, Krischan stood behind the door with the cook, arguing the matter.

"Durt, what must be, must."

"Eh, Krischan, what do you want?"