with her
father, I was not allowed to enter. Once, however, when I entered
unnoticed, she was standing on tip-toe, her back turned toward me, with
her hands raised above her head, groping along one of the upper shelves
as if looking for something. At the same time she was singing softly to
herself--it was the song, my song! She was warbling like a hedge-sparrow
when it bathes its breast in the brook, tosses its head, ruffles its
feathers, and smoothes them again with its little beak. I seemed to be
walking in a green meadow. I crept nearer and nearer, and was so close
that the melody seemed no longer to come from without, but out of my own
breast--a song of souls. I was unable to contain myself any longer, and
as she stood there straining forward, her shoulders thrown slightly back
towards me, I threw both arms around her body. But then the storm broke.
She whirled around like a top. Her face livid with rage, she stood
before me; her hand twitched, and before I could utter a word of
apology, the blow came.

"As I have said before, my colleagues in the chancery used to tell a
story of a box on the ear, which Barbara, when she was still vending
cakes, had dealt out to an impertinent fellow. What they then said of
the strength of this rather small girl and of the power of her hand,
seemed greatly and humorously exaggerated. But it was a fact; her
strength was tremendous. I stood as though I had been struck by a
thunderbolt. The lights were dancing before my eyes, but they were the
lights of heaven. It seemed like sun, moon and stars, like angels
playing hide-and-seek and singing at the same time. I had visions; I was
entranced. She, however, scarcely less astonished than I, passed her
hand gently over the place she had struck. 'I'm afraid I struck more
violently than I intended,' she said, and, like a second thunderbolt, I
suddenly felt her warm breath and her lips upon my cheeks. She kissed
me--only gently, but it was a kiss, a kiss upon this very cheek." As he
said this, the old man put his hand to his cheek, and tears came to his
eyes. "What happened after that I do not know," he continued. "I only
remember that I rushed toward her and that she ran into the sitting room
and threw herself against the glass door, while I pushed against it from
the other side. As she pressed forward with all her might against the
glass panel, I took courage, dear sir, and returned her kiss with great
fervor--through the glass!

"'Well,