astonished. You are going to be the first to see it when it is finished.
You'll be the first, little Agnes, just wait. What have we got to eat on
this holy evening?" asked Jordan, turning with fear and trembling to
Philippina.

"Cold hash and broiled meal-beetles," said Philippina scornfully.

"And ... and ... no letter from Daniel?" he asked in a sad voice,
"nothing, nothing at all?"

Philippina shrugged her shoulders. The old man got up and tottered to
his room.

A little later Philippina heard some one stumbling around in the hall,
and then the bell rang. "Open the door," she said to Agnes, who did as
she was told and returned with Benjamin Dorn. The Methodist wore a black
suit, and in his hand he had a black felt hat that was as flat as a
pancake. He bowed to Philippina, and asked if he was disturbing any one.
Philippina pushed a chair over to him. He sat down quite
circumstantially, and laughed a hollow laugh. As Philippina was as
silent as the tomb and looked at him so tensely, he began to speak.

First he expatiated on the general advantages of a married life, and
then remarked that what he personally wished first of all was to be able
to take a good, true woman into his own life as his wife. He said that
he had gone through a long struggle over the matter, but God had finally
shown him the light and pointed the way. He no longer hesitated, after
this illumination from above, to offer Fraeulein Schimmelweis his heart
and his hand forever and a day, insist though he must that she give the
matter due consideration, in the proper Christian spirit, before taking
the all-important step.

Philippina was restless; she rocked back and forth, first on one foot
and then on another--and then burst out laughing. She bent over and
laughed violently. "No, you poor simpleton, what you want is my money,
hey? Be honest! Out with it! You want my money, don't you?"

Her anger grew as Benjamin Dorn sat and looked on, his asinine
embarrassment increasing with each second of silence. "Listen! You'd
like to git your fingers on it, wouldn't you? Money--it would taste
good, wouldn't it? You think I'm crazy? Scrape a few coppers together
and lose my mind and marry some poor fool, and let him loaf around and
live on me. Nothing doin'! They ain't no man livin' what can catch
Philippina Schimmelweis so easy as all that. She knows a thing or two
about men, she does. D'ye hear me! Get out!" She sawed the air with her
arms like a mad wo